Most people get liquidated not because of excessive leverage, but because of overexposure and impatience.

Leverage is just an amplifier; going all-in with a heavy position, fighting against the trend, and not setting stop-losses are the sure ways to lose everything.

Counterexample (heavy exposure and impatient liquidation)

Crypto buddy (Huang Licheng): 25x leverage isn't extreme, but every time he goes all-in on ETH longs, fights without stop-loss, and adds to his position as it drops. In October 2025, ETH suddenly crashed, and his 5,250 ETH long was forcibly liquidated, turning 11 million USD into just 158k USD instantly; over half a year, he was liquidated more than 25 times, losing over 30 million USD, cycling repeatedly between "recharge and liquidation" — it's not about high leverage, but about overexposure, rushing to recover losses, and refusing to admit mistakes.

Positive example (small positions, trend-following stop-loss, slow and steady)

Crypto influencer Ban Mu Xia: In the early days, he used a full 20k USD with high leverage and was liquidated multiple times to zero; later, he stuck to single positions of ≤5%, total exposure ≤20%, only traded BTC/ETH in trend-following, with single-stop-losses ≤2%. No guessing tops or bottoms, no chasing or holding against the trend; only when the trend is clear does he follow with small positions, and profits are used to add positions. Starting with 15k USD, achieving 440x returns, steady profits over 5 years, never liquidated — slow and steady, not gambling.

My trading iron rules

I only do three things: small positions, trend-following, strict stop-losses.
Slow is steady, steady is profitable — no chasing quick money, no betting on one-sided moves, no holding against the trend. Staying alive is the key to continuous earning.