#美联储重启降息步伐 Once saw a college student enter the market with $600. Every night before bed, she would open her trading app and check her account balance three times.

What was she afraid of? She was afraid of becoming cannon fodder like in those stories—going all-in on altcoins and getting wiped out, chasing highs and lows and losing all her principal. But three months later, her account balance had grown to $20,000.

How did she do it? She treated that $600 as three lives.

Each $200 had its own role:

**First portion: For short-term trades**
Mainstream coins like BTC and ETH—if they went up 3%-5%, she sold. No waiting, no greed. The first time she saw BTC go up 4%, her finger hovered over the sell button for ten seconds, but she finally pressed it. $208 credited to her account, and she realized, “Turns out you really can make money.”

Altcoins? Didn’t touch them.

**Second portion: For swing positions**
If she didn’t understand the trend, she didn’t act. What does it mean to understand? For example, if ETH broke above the 15-day moving average and volume significantly increased, she’d enter and hold for three to five days, then exit when it was time—never fantasizing about holding for the long term.

Once, she thought about holding for another week, “What if it keeps going up?” But after seeing cases of others getting stuck in swing trades, she forced herself to pull back. The biggest fear for beginners is turning a swing trade into a long-term bag-holder.

**Third portion: Emergency funds**
Absolutely untouchable.

Even if the market crashed and she doubted everything, she wouldn’t touch this money. It wasn’t for making profits; it was her backup in case the first two portions lost everything. Once, after losing $300, she thought about using this money, but after hesitating for a long time, she closed the app. “Using this now means hurting my future self.”

**After 21 days**
She made $50 from short-term trading, $80 from swing trades, and the emergency fund remained untouched. $600 became $730, and for the first time, she felt, “This is something I can control.”

Did she stop feeling itchy hands? No, she still did. She wanted to “wait a bit longer” on short-term trades, “hold a few more days” on swing trades, but rules are rules.

**Account after three months**
$20,180.

Short-term portion: Sell BTC/ETH after 3%-5% gains, total profit $4,200;
Swing portion: Enter on signals, hold for 3-5 days, total profit $8,900;
Emergency fund: Never touched, but gave her the courage to operate.

Zero liquidations.

She later said, “It’s never the amount of principal that gets liquidated, it’s the hands that mess around.”

Small funds aren’t a sin—losing control is. Whether it’s $600 or $6,000, split into three portions and stick to discipline, and your account might just survive the bull and bear cycles.