Eight years ago, I rented a place in a city village with three roommates and scraped together 8,000 yuan to jump into the crypto world. During the day, I sat in front of my computer analyzing K-line charts; at night, I took turns watching the market until dawn. At my worst, I couldn’t afford a hot meal for a week. Now, my account has three zeros more. Some say it’s luck, but we all know—the gains were made after twice losing everything, a whole box of instant noodles, and countless sleepless nights of trial and error.

At 2 a.m., my phone rings again. A desperate message pops up: "Third liquidation, my wife threw all my luggage downstairs..." I receive about eight such private messages every week. Too many treat contracts as an ATM, not realizing it’s a finely packaged meat grinder. Money comes in quickly but disappears even faster.

My trading rules have always been simple: divide the principal into ten parts, only risk one-tenth at a time. No matter how tempting the "money-making" opportunities, I don’t add to my position. These are the ironclad rules I’ve summarized over eight years of falling and getting back up:

**Stop-loss must be reflexive.** Once, out of luck, I didn’t set a stop-loss, and in the blink of an eye, my account was wiped out, leaving me in debt. Since then, I’ve understood: the stop-loss line is actually a lifeline.

**If you suffer five consecutive losses, you must shut down.** This is my self-imposed "circuit breaker." We can’t afford to provoke the market; admitting defeat in time is the smart way to live.

**Withdraw profits immediately.** The numbers on the screen look good, but they’re fake. The money transferred to your bank card is real. Hearing that transfer alert, you can finally feel at ease.

**If you don’t understand the market, just watch. Don’t force it.** Using leverage to gamble on an unclear direction is no different from self-harm. Missing a wave or two of the market isn’t scary; being harvested is the real pain.

**Always only use 30% of your funds to operate.** Light positions aren’t cowardice—they give you the capital to calmly analyze the market.

In the contract world, the dream of getting rich quick is just like playing the lottery. The market is full of traps—high leverage, false signals, human greed—any one of which can wipe out your account. Contracts are never a shortcut to rapid success; it’s a long-term battle with no end in sight.

If you truly want to survive longer in the crypto market, you first need to learn how to live more steadily.