In early July, a trader from Zhejiang approached me. He had only $20,000 left in his account, having lost $200,000 last year. He asked if he could turn things around in this market cycle. My answer was very straightforward: "First, delete the words 'break even' from your mind."

At that time, he was full of dreams of overnight riches. I told him the most crucial point—if you want to turn the tide, you must first survive. Later, we established a strict trading framework.

**The first step is position sizing.** Divide the $20,000 into five parts, with each trade limited to $4,000, never exceeding this amount. This way, even the worst judgment won't wipe you out. Previously, he traded with his entire position, and one mistake would ruin him, destroying his mindset and execution. After learning to split his positions, he became able to stay calm and make rational decisions.

Stop-loss is another bottom line. When he first entered ZEC and the floating loss reached 4%, he immediately cut his position according to the rules, even though he was unhappy about it. Four days later, ZEC plummeted 14%, and he realized that the stop-loss saved him that time. Since then, he no longer gambles arrogantly to "win back" losses.

During market volatility, we use a staggered profit-taking strategy. For example, in the COAI trade, he entered at 0.16. We took partial profits at 0.24, 0.33, and 0.42, and finally closed the position at 0.47, successfully riding the main upward wave and avoiding subsequent pitfalls.

The most interesting part is that he gradually understood—being out of the market is also a form of trading. When the market was unclear for two days, I insisted he stay on the sidelines. He was anxious and kept asking whether to enter. I just replied, "Wait." When the market started moving, he entered precisely at the right moment. At that moment, he realized that sometimes, doing nothing is the highest form of operation.

After 50 days, his account exceeded $150,000. No secret signals, no insider information—just consistent execution of the rules.

He later told me, "It turns out that consistent profitability is really that simple. The key is in the most basic rules."

In the crypto world, it's never about who makes money faster, but who survives longer. True winners are never the smartest, but those who can stick to discipline and manage their mindset well.