I heard a trader’s story that made me re-understand that surviving is more important than making money.

His principal last year was only 1200U. After three months, his account held 500,000U. He never got liquidated during that time.

It’s not some magical predictive ability, nor luck. When I asked him for his secret, his answer was straightforward to the point of being a bit boring.

**Divide the money into three parts, leaving yourself a way out**

The 1200U was split into three independent accounts of 400U each:

A short-term pool for intraday trading, with at most two trades per day—finish and walk away. A trend pool focusing only on major weekly trends, ignoring daily fluctuations. A rescue pool used purely for emergencies—if one account gets liquidated, immediately replenish it to keep playing.

Sounds basic, right? But this is why he survived. The market never shows mercy to those who go all-in. Dividing into pools gave him room to make mistakes.

**Only eat the middle, most profitable segment**

His entry rules are extremely simple: if the daily moving averages are not in a bullish alignment, stay out and wait. Only act when a volume breakout surpasses the previous high and the daily close confirms it.

Once in, what does he do? Take half of the 30% profit back to the principal, and leave the remaining 50% with a 10% trailing stop, following the market’s movement.

He never greedily chases the head or tail of a trend. Opportunities are always there; the principal is only one. He comfortably eats the most certain part of the trend in the middle.

**Stop-loss at 3%, then move the stop to breakeven after profits**

He has a strict rule before each trade:

If a 3% loss occurs, exit immediately—no room for luck. When profits reach 10%, move the stop-loss to the cost price, leaving the rest to the market’s willingness to continue.

He closes the market at 11 PM sharp, regardless of how beautiful the candlestick looks. Sleep is more important than obsessing over the market. When insomnia hits, he simply uninstall the app.

**Final words**

Turning 1200U into 500,000U relies on making fewer mistakes, not on being particularly clever. Techniques like wave theory or Fibonacci retracements are sophisticated, but they depend on the account still being alive.

First, survive. Survive, and making money becomes possible. If you don’t survive, you become someone else’s cannon fodder.