At three in the morning, the ashtray is already overflowing with cigarette butts. Staring at the “1200” in my trading account feels like getting slapped hard in the face. Three months ago, I charged into the market with 20,000 in hand, full of confidence. Now, even grabbing a late-night snack means checking my wallet first. My finger hovered over the app’s uninstall button for a long time, but in the end, I downed half a bottle of cold beer and told myself, “I refuse to accept this—I have to win that money back.”

Looking back now, that dark period when I almost lost even my underwear actually turned out to be a “coming-of-age” moment in the crypto market for me. I printed out every trade record from my account and marked each one carefully with a pen—seeing those impulsive trades made cold sweat break out down my back. Ninety percent of my losses came from these three traps: “trading on gut feeling,” “believing in rumors,” and “refusing to admit defeat.”

After the pain cut to my core, I began obsessively studying trading logic, and I forced myself to come up with seven “survival rules.” In half a year, my account climbed from 1,200 to 280,000. Don’t think it’s some miracle—this isn’t a windfall from the sky; it’s hard-earned knowledge paid for with real money. Today I’m sharing these hard-won lessons with you—save every one of them on your phone and review them often:

**Rule #1: When you don’t understand the market, holding cash is a thousand times better than aimless trading**
Driving fast in heavy fog isn’t bravery—it’s suicide. A lot of people worry about “missing opportunities,” so even when the market is a mess, they force themselves to buy in. I used to be like this too—if I heard “some hot concept is about to take off,” I’d dive in without even looking at the chart, and inevitably get stuck holding the bag. Later, I realized that when the market is chaotic, the smartest move is to “play dead.” Hold onto your bullets, and only act when the signals are clear—that’s top-tier defense.

**Rule #2: Don’t expect to hold hot coins long-term—quick in, quick out is the way to go**
Hot topics in the community are like summer thunderstorms: they come fast and disappear just as quickly.