After eight years of hustling in the crypto market, I finally realized one thing: what really causes liquidation isn’t buying the wrong asset, but being unable to sell.

Back in the 2017 bull run, I went heavy on ADA. My entry price was $0.03, and it soared all the way to $1.2—a 40x gain on paper. I was on cloud nine, researching which city to buy a house in. But I made the mistake every retail investor makes: I couldn't bear to sell.

The result was predictable. ADA crashed from its peak to $0.2, and 80% of my profits vanished in an instant. It felt like being on a roller coaster when the safety belt suddenly comes loose at the highest point.

After learning my lesson the hard way, I set three iron rules for myself:

**Rule 1: Take profits in batches.** When the price doubles my target, I sell 30% to get my principal back; at 3x, I sell another 30%; for the remaining 40%, I set a 15% trailing stop. This approach lets me ride the main wave but prevents the market from taking it all back.

**Rule 2: Strict stop-losses.** If I open a position with $10,000, I’ll cut my losses and exit if I’m down $500. I always set a -10% stop order right at the time of purchase; if I try to hold through a one-sided drop, half my account could be gone.

**Rule 3: Only go for the meat of the trade.** I never chase the very top—forgetting about catching the last bit has actually helped me earn a steady 35% return this year.

I’ve seen plenty of people get rich overnight, but very few can actually walk away with the profits. The market isn’t short of legends, it’s short of the discipline to survive until the end.