Recently, I saw quite a few people complaining in the group. Someone bought a coin and it dropped 10% in two days, directly breaking their defenses. There are also those who watch the market every day—shaking hands during the day, insomnia at night, sometimes imagining a villa by the sea, other times feeling like the entire market is against them. To be honest, if you can still make money with this mindset, you’ve really hit the lottery.

**Why do we always end up as "leeks"? Because desire outpaces principal**

The most common scene in the crypto world is like this: when it rises, people fantasize about financial freedom; when it falls, they feel like life is not worth living. There’s a heartbreaking statistic behind this—low-frequency traders can achieve an annualized return of 18.5%, but those who trade frequently and adjust their positions daily? Only 11.4%. Almost half less profit. Why? Trading fees eat up a large chunk of profits, and more importantly, frequent trading makes it easy to miss the true trend.

There’s an even harsher rule: many coins, just as they hit the peak of Google search popularity, tend to have negative returns in the following 30 days. This is no coincidence; it’s human nature. FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) makes you chase the rise, and when you lose money, you’re reluctant to cut losses. When you make profits, greed makes you want to double them. Market makers love this emotional volatility among retail investors because every impulsive move of yours is someone else’s cash machine.

**Making money depends on discipline, not just skill**

I’ve seen retail investors grow from 50,000 to millions. Guess what they rely on? Not some divine operation, but disciplined perseverance.

The first rule is position control. No single coin should occupy more than 5% of your total funds, even if you’re very optimistic. Suppose your principal is 100,000 USDT; never invest more than 5,000 USDT in one coin. What’s the benefit? Even if that coin eventually goes to zero, you won’t be wiped out, and your capital chain remains intact. Many people fail because of "all-in" bets—investing half their principal in a project they like, only to be wiped out by a black swan event.

The second rule is a strict stop-loss. If the spot price drops 15%, you must cut losses—don’t listen to any "long-term hold" clichés. During the LUNA crash, many kept holding on, comforting themselves with "it will rebound soon," until they finally lost everything. Stop-loss isn’t about admitting defeat; it’s about staying alive to keep playing.

The third rule is emotional hedging. Set your buy and sell points in advance, and don’t operate outside those levels. When prices surge, forcibly sell some profits to lock in gains; when prices fall to support levels, gradually re-enter. It sounds simple, but executing this filters out 99% of traders. Because it requires restraint when you’re most excited and calmness when you’re most fearful.

Ultimately, the market’s greatest cure is resistance to impulsiveness. The more eager you are to double your money, the easier you get trapped. Those who truly make money often seem very boring—they repeat the same operations over and over, controlling their desires, maintaining discipline, and letting compound interest work slowly. In the crypto market, longevity is victory.