On October 11th, just before 5 a.m., my phone was vibrating so hard that the nightstand was shaking.

Half awake, I glanced at the screen—BTC had crashed below $105,000, ETH couldn't hold $3,600, and my entire portfolio was in the red. My account shrank by $80,000. I stared at those numbers for over ten seconds, and finally, I quietly exited the app.

Scenes like this? I’ve seen plenty. After ten years, this is already the seventh round of "bloodbaths" I’ve been through.

People on the outside always say the crypto world is just a casino, but those who actually survive here never rely on luck. The only reason I managed to grow my original $8,000 to what it is now is because I stuck stubbornly to three trading principles.

**First, compartmentalizing your capital—this is the baseline for survival.**

Many beginners go all in as soon as they enter the market. With $1,800 in their account, they want to bet everything on a single coin. What happens? One dip and they’re liquidated, not even a chance to recover.

My approach is to split $1,800 into three parts, $600 each: one part for short-term intraday trades, only one trade per day, and I’m out as soon as I make a profit—never get greedy; one part for swing trades, only moving once every ten days or so, targeting big moves; the last part stays as a base position, untouched no matter how wild the market gets.

What’s the benefit of this? Even if one trade loses, the other two are still there, so your account won’t go to zero. In crypto, you have to learn how to survive first before you even think about doubling your money.

**Second principle: Don’t mess around during sideways markets.**

Most of the time, the market just moves sideways, slowly grinding along. If you keep opening positions during these periods, you’re just handing money to the whales. What you really need to do is wait—wait until the trend is clear and the direction is obvious, then go all in and ride the wave.

Once you make money? Don’t leave it all in your account. My habit is that if profits exceed 20%, I withdraw 30% right away and lock it in. The rest keeps compounding, but my principal is already safe.

The real pros aren’t the ones glued to the screen all day—they’re the ones who wait patiently and strike only when there’s real opportunity.

**Third, and most importantly—let rules control your behavior.**

In trading, the worst thing isn’t losing money, it’s losing control of your emotions. So I set three iron rules for myself:

Set a 2% stop loss—if it hits, close the position immediately, no hesitation; take profits on half the position at 4% gain to lock in some returns; absolutely never average down—once you start, you’re just digging yourself deeper.

A lot of people lose money right here—when their account is in the green, they get greedy and hold on too long, only to watch the market reverse and lose it all; when they’re in the red, they can’t accept it and keep averaging down, ending up with even bigger losses.

If you can keep your emotions in check, the market will reward you. Let your money grow within your rules, instead of letting it swing with your moods.

From $1,800 to $58,000, I never relied on any insider info or crazy 100x altcoins. Just these three principles, stuck with them for over two years.

In this market, whether you make money or not doesn’t really depend on whether conditions are good or bad. What really determines your wins and losses is whether you have a system that can keep you alive.