Three years ago, on that late night, I watched my account balance drop to my waist and sincerely asked myself: Should I just exit now? Only after three consecutive years of stable profits did I realize that the despair back then was actually the most valuable gift. Today, I want to talk about not quick wealth schemes, but a few underlying understandings that have fundamentally transformed my trading system.

**From "Hundredfold Dream" to "Survive"**

When I first entered the scene, my mind was filled with stories of "hundredfold coins" and "overnight riches." Naturally, chasing gains and cutting losses became routine. I would sell off promising coins immediately when they dipped, and follow others in a panic when they made money. My account resembled a roller coaster, and my mindset changed three times a day.

The turning point came suddenly. Once, after a drunken party, I impulsively made a trade, which instantly evaporated $40,000. Lying in bed, sober, I finally understood: emotions are the most expensive luxury in trading. From that day on, I completely shifted my goal from "how much to earn" to "how to stay alive." This change sounds simple, but it reshaped my entire risk perception system.

To this day, my trading journal's front page still bears this phrase: "Better to miss out than to make mistakes. The market never lacks opportunities; what’s missing is the capital that’s still alive."

**Mechanized Trading Discipline**

Now, every trade I make follows the principle of "planned trading, trading plan." Before entering a position, I lock in all variables: what are the entry conditions, where is the stop-loss, how to set take-profit. Once the trade starts, I absolutely do not change it mid-course. It’s like installing a physical lock on impulsiveness; no matter how much market noise there is, it can’t influence execution.

It sounds boring to death, but it’s this boredom that saved my account. Many say "flexibility is important," but my experience tells me: for most retail traders, "flexibility" often means "being controlled by emotions."

**FOMO Vaccination Method**

When I see others hyping a new coin, my fingers start to itch. Now, I force myself to ask three questions: Do I really understand this project? Can I bear the risk? The answer is usually "no." True good opportunities always appear when no one is paying attention. At the end of 2022, when the market was dead silent, I quietly allocated to Bitcoin. No FOMO, no group frenzy—later, that position gave me the most steady returns.

Conversely, those trades I couldn’t resist following the crowd? Almost none were profitable.

**Stop-loss is like brushing your teeth**

I call my stop-loss the "trading insurance fee." Each loss is strictly limited to a certain percentage of total capital, and this red line is never crossed. Many say "stop-loss is denying your judgment," but I prefer to see it as "the price paid for wrong decisions."

The most common tragedy in the market isn’t a big loss once, but countless small losses accumulating into unbearable damage. And those who eventually get wiped out often die on the thought of "just wait a bit longer, I’ll get back to break-even."

Achieving these points doesn’t require any special talent—just admit your greed and fear, then use systems to constrain them. Three years of stable profits prove that this path, though slow, is sufficiently safe.