$BTC Many beginners have asked me the same question: I only have a few hundred or a couple of thousand dollars in my account, how should I trade contracts without going all-in on one shot?

This concern is actually valid. The most common way to lose $1,000 is to act recklessly as if you are a big player with $10,000. I’ve seen many small fund traders survive, and none of them succeeded by being reckless.

The first thing a beginner should do is not to study which coins or indicators to use, but to remember one sentence: Never go all-in on one shot.

My advice is to divide $1,000 into 5 parts, and only use $200 each time, with leverage kept between 5x and 10x. Those who immediately go to 50x or 100x, frankly, are not trading—they are gambling with their lives. When the market makes a sudden move, they are out immediately.

The remaining money should stay put, don’t move it around blindly. If one part loses, don’t rush to add more, don’t get emotional. I used to have this problem myself—after losing once, I couldn’t accept it, and the losses kept deepening until I couldn’t control it. Only then did I realize: cutting losses early is a thousand times more important than stubbornly holding on.

Market opportunities are everywhere; there’s no shortage of trades. If you lose, take a couple of days to calm down, analyze what went wrong, and think clearly before coming back. Once your mindset is adjusted, subdivide your funds again and restart. Take it slow—don’t expect to turn things around with one trade.

Another key detail: take profits and withdraw. For example, if your account has a floating profit of $500, withdraw $300 directly, leaving only $200 to continue trading. This way, you have real gains in hand, and your mindset won’t get distorted in subsequent trades. Too many people see their account grow to a few hundred dollars and refuse to withdraw, only to be wiped out by a sudden move, starting over from scratch.

Let me emphasize the data again: with 10x leverage, a 10% wrong move means your principal is gone. Bitcoin’s 10% daily fluctuation is very common. Professional traders with a 60% win rate are considered experts, so whether you survive depends not just on your market judgment but on keeping your position small enough and being able to exit in time.

My own strict rule is simple: if you lose 2% of your total capital in a day, start to be cautious; if you lose 6%, close all positions and shut down the software.

How to handle profitable trades also matters: first, preserve your principal; then let the profits run freely. Don’t turn big wins into wasted effort.

Remember these points for beginners: don’t rush with small funds, use low leverage, prioritize stop-loss, and withdraw profits after gains. Money grows little by little; no one has ever made it big by going all-in.