"If I touch contracts again, I'll cut my hand off!" Three years ago, in a youth hostel in a small southern city, I stared at my plummeting positions and made this vicious vow. My account’s principal of 800,000 was wiped out in an instant, and I almost smashed my phone. Back then, I was so broke I had to pinch every penny just to afford a cab. But who could have guessed that with just 1,000 stablecoins left, I managed to rebuild my account back up to 870,000. The secret? Old hands might laugh if I say it— the more cautious you are, the longer you last; if you can tough it out, you've already won half the battle.

I've been in this space for eight years. I've seen countless "get rich legends" and received endless confessions of liquidation. Truth be told, the crypto market isn’t really an "arena for warriors"— it's more like "the survivors win." Most of those who shout "go all in" end up as cannon fodder for the market, while people like me, who learned to yield, survive round after round.

At the start of 2024, with only 1,000 stablecoins left, I got back into the game, but this time I set three hard rules for myself. Let me share them with you now— every single one was paid for with real money:

**Rule #1: Divide your funds into small portions; never open a position larger than the cost of a cup of milk tea.**
I split those 1,000 stablecoins into 10 independently managed parts, and for each trade, I used at most 4 of them— basically, even if I lost the entire trade, I’d still have 60% of my principal left for a comeback. The remaining 6 portions? I threw them into flexible savings with a 4.2% annual return. Not huge, but steady— and when the market’s bad, the interest alone is enough for a decent meal. Don’t call me overly cautious; last year a follower of mine didn’t listen, went all in with 200,000, and then ETH flash crashed...