Many people treat contracts as a money-making machine to turn their fortunes around, but in reality, they are just paying tuition in the market. To survive steadily in the contract trading arena, what you need is not luck, but a true understanding of yourself reflected in your actions.

I have fallen into this trap myself and have summarized three ironclad rules, hoping to help you avoid detours.

**First Principle: Start with a demo account and thoroughly verify yourself**

Don’t jump straight into real money. First, use the exchange’s demo account with 10,000 virtual funds and trade intensively for 3 months. This simulated environment almost perfectly replicates real trading, except that losses can be reset, and the cost of trial and error is zero. My standard is clear — within 3 months, you must avoid liquidation, and your trading win rate should be stable above 50%, before considering real funds. Many people can’t wait for these three months; after depositing, they get liquidated within a week. That’s the price of impatience.

**Second Principle: Contracts should only be the icing on the cake**

This is the easiest point to overlook. Contracts are not your main source of income, nor are they a tool for turning things around. The funds used to participate should never exceed 20% of your idle funds. For example — a working person earning 3,000 yuan a month should only try with a maximum of 600 yuan, and save the rest. Once you use your living security funds, your mindset will be hijacked by market sentiment, leading to all kinds of stupid decisions. Your primary income is the foundation of your life; contracts are just an enhancement on top of that.

**Third Principle: Treat liquidation as the best teacher**

Liquidation is not the end, but rather the beginning. Every time you get liquidated, it’s the market giving you the most direct feedback. The key is to review carefully — did you open leverage too aggressively? Did you set stop-loss orders but still operate recklessly? Were you frightened by market fluctuations and led by emotions? Write down all these pitfalls and organize them into your personal risk-avoidance checklist. The more you do, the clearer your trading logic becomes, and the higher your chances of making money.

There are no shortcuts on this path; walking steadily is the true way to succeed.