Being able to survive in this market until today basically means I've taken enough losses.

Five years ago, I entered the crypto space with dreams of instant wealth. At that time, I thought learning a bit of candlestick charts would unlock the secrets to riches. But reality hit me hard and gave me a slap in the face. My account's maximum unrealized profit was equivalent to 60 years of salary, only to be halved overnight. In the crypto world, indeed, one day feels like a year.

Trading nonstop 24 hours a day with no limit on price fluctuations. I watched Bitcoin surge from $3,000 to $126,000 and then fall back to $80,000. Back then, like most people, I was obsessed with frequent trades, eager to seize every opportunity. Only later did I realize that trading frequency and earning money are fundamentally different.

Today, I share these hard-earned lessons in hopes you won't step into the same pits I did.

**Emotions are the biggest enemy**

My earliest mentor once said: "The market owes you nothing; the only thing that keeps you alive is a word—humility." I was young and arrogant at the time and didn't really listen.

I will never forget the night of March 12, 2020. Bitcoin plummeted from $7,900 directly down to $3,600. I foolishly kept averaging down, pushing my cost basis to $6,500, only to see the price keep falling, bottoming out at $3,800. That feeling still gives me cold sweats when I think about it.

That day, I made a decision: to stop trading altogether. I uninstalled all the apps and forced myself to calm down. That was the first lesson I learned—when others are greedily chasing, smart people should be scared stiff.