What’s the biggest fear in the crypto community? It’s not missing out—it’s blowing up your principal so that when the bull market comes, all you can do is watch helplessly.

If you’re holding just a few hundred bucks, less than 1000 USDT, don’t try to go all-in like the whales.

I have an online friend who lost big last year, resorted to rolling over credit cards, but then stuck it out with 800 USDT. Now his account is close to 80,000 USDT—the key is, he’s never been liquidated.

BTC is now holding steady above $90,000, and ETH has pushed past $3,189. The market’s hot, but very few people are actually making money.

How did he survive and even profit? He stuck to three hard rules:

**Always split your funds into three parts**—200 USDT for intraday trades, only touching highly liquid assets like BTC and ETH. Last week, when ETH jumped from $3,100 to $3,240, he took a 4% gain and exited. Another 200 USDT is set aside for swing trades, like entering when BTC pulled back to $85,000 this cycle, holding for five days for a 15% profit. The remaining 400 USDT is a safety cushion—absolutely untouchable.

**Don’t get obsessed with tiny price swings.** 90% of the time, the crypto market just grinds sideways. Frequent in-and-out trades just feed the platform with fees. Once, he waited ten days just to catch ETH breaking above $3,000—a single trade that beat weeks of pointless churning.

**Whenever profits are over 15%, cash out half immediately.** Only money in your account counts.

The strictest rule: stop-loss is capped at 1.5%. If he loses that, he cuts immediately—never averaging down.

Having a small principal isn’t scary; what’s scary is getting reckless and trying to “win it all back in one shot.” Staying alive is what gives you the chance to catch the next big opportunity.