In the first year of trading on an exchange, most beginners have fallen into traps.

Staring at BTC and ETH candlestick charts every day, repeatedly analyzing with indicators like MACD and KDJ, going all-in on a certain direction in futures, the result is not the market defeating you, but your impatience and blind recklessness draining your account.

Many people later realize a truth: instead of wasting effort predicting bullish or bearish trends, it's better to focus on building a solid trading system.

**Three things you must consider before opening a position**

First, how to exit if wrong? Set a stop-loss level and decisively exit once it’s hit. Second, how to split profits? Take partial profits at different levels, don’t wait for a rebound to wipe out gains. Third, how much profit should you take before leaving? Profits transferred to a cold wallet are true income; unrealized gains sitting in the exchange account will eventually be lost in volatility.

If these three points aren’t clear, don’t touch any asset.

**Seventy percent of the market is in consolidation; how should you position yourself**

Crypto markets rarely trend unilaterally; most of the time, they fluctuate within a range. Instead of heavily betting on a single point, it’s better to diversify entries using spot and futures with different positions at support and resistance levels. Even if your judgment is completely wrong, risk control limits losses; once a breakout occurs, the risk-reward ratio naturally increases.

A high win rate isn’t necessary; what matters is surviving long enough.

**Stop-loss is your ticket in**

Stop-loss is never a failure; it’s the cost of staying in the game. As long as you don’t get wiped out by black swan events in a single trade, there’s always a chance for the next big bull market. The biggest fear in crypto isn’t making mistakes, but being completely wiped out after one wrong move.

Risk control is like a lamp—if it stays on, opportunities remain. Steady progress will always allow you to catch your market.