To be honest, a lot of people think they’re trading, but in reality, they’re just paying tuition fees to the market.

Let’s talk about the first pitfall—you have no idea how much leverage you’re actually using.

You have 10,000 USDT in your account, and losing 500 feels excruciating. But when you look at your positions, you’ve opened a 30,000 USDT position. You claim to be trading conservatively with 5x leverage, but your actual position is already at dozens of times leverage. When the market moves slightly? You get liquidated on the spot. The whales see this kind of operation and just laugh to themselves—another one here to donate money.

Now for the second truth: the people who really make money have a trading frequency completely different from what you think.

How do the pros play? They spend 70% of their time watching and waiting for opportunities, and 30% of their time making precise moves, harvesting steadily in one shot. What they earn is the chips you leave behind after getting liquidated. While you exhaust yourself making a dozen trades a day, they make one trade a day and enjoy the profits. Remember this: the busier you are, the cleaner you lose. This is the iron law the market sets for retail traders.

Want to survive? Two words—self-control.

The most typical beginner’s problem: chasing when it goes up, panicking when it goes down, and trying to add to losing positions to hold on. That’s not trading; that’s running headfirst into liquidation with a built-in self-destruct button. How do the pros do it? Cut losses immediately at 5%, don’t rush to lock in all profits, and let profits run a bit. Always execute your stop loss, and be decisive about taking profits. Stay calm when others are panicking, be cool when others are greedy—that’s the real survival rule in crypto.

A lot of people say trading contracts is gambling. That’s wrong. The tool isn’t gambling—your way of playing is.

Going all-in on every trade, trading on gut feeling, not setting stop losses—that’s gambling. What do those who consistently make profits rely on? Discipline, probability, rhythm, and risk control. If you master these four things, contracts are just a tool; if not, they’re a meat grinder.

Here’s one last harsh truth: charging in recklessly will only lead you to crash again and again.

I’ve seen too many people open positions based on gut feeling, swearing every time that “this one is definitely solid,” but every time ends in liquidation. Want to change? Either systematically learn trading logic, or follow someone with experience to avoid detours. There’s no shortage of opportunities in crypto; what’s lacking are people who can survive until those opportunities arrive.

Stop being the ATM. Figure out whether you’re here to trade or just to give money away.