#数字货币市场洞察 After 8 years in crypto, the phrase I fear hearing the most is: "Why didn’t you sell earlier?"

Yeah, I’ve asked myself that question countless times too.

Here’s the bottom line: In this industry, there are plenty of people who know how to buy, but the real skill is being able to actually pocket the money. I learned this lesson the hard way—with a loss that cost me a down payment on a house.

This happened back in 2017. I had my eye on ADA, started building a position at $0.03. In less than three months, it shot up to $1.20. What does that mean? Nearly a 40x return on paper. Back then, the first thing I did every morning wasn’t brushing my teeth—it was counting how many zeros were in my account balance. All I could think about was house hunting.

And then? I didn’t sell a single coin.

ADA later dropped to $0.20, wiping out 80% of my profits. The house? Keep dreaming.

It was only after this that I realized, the market doesn’t owe you money—you just refuse to cash out. So I forced myself to develop a take-profit and stop-loss system—a framework that regular people can follow without staring at charts all day.

**Let’s talk about taking profits first.**

What I use is called "laddered selling." Say a coin goes from $1 to $2, I’ll sell 30% of my position at that point. Why? Because at that point, my initial investment has been recouped, so I’m not worried about what happens next. If it climbs to $3, I’ll sell another 30%. What about the remaining 40%? I set a trailing stop—if it drops 15% from the peak, I liquidate the rest.

The advantage of this approach is: you can ride the main rally, but you’ll never walk away empty-handed.

**Now let’s talk about stop-losses.**

I set a hard rule for myself: no single trade can lose more than 5% of my principal. It’s simple to execute—just set up a conditional order in advance. As soon as I buy, I set a -10% stop-loss, like strapping a seatbelt on the trade. Don’t be afraid of missing out. There are always new opportunities in crypto, but if your principal is gone, the game is over.

Once, I cut my losses according to plan, and that coin ended up doubling. My friends laughed at me for being timid. I didn’t argue. Three months later, that coin went to zero. They weren’t laughing anymore.

Over the years, I’ve seen plenty of people get rich overnight, and even more people ride the rollercoaster until they lose everything. The ones who actually walk away with profits are the ones who follow their rules coldly, like machines.

On the battlefield of crypto, surviving is a thousand times more important than making quick money. The spot coins you hold are the real bullets in a bull market.