While 99% of traders spend their time chasing new technical indicators and the 'Holy Grail of wealth', the true profit-makers only spend half an hour analyzing the market and then shut down to go to work.
There is a saying in the trading community: you will never make money outside the scope of your understanding. Even if you make money by luck, you will ultimately lose it back through your skills. This statement seems profound, but it is superficial.
What exactly is the 'cognitive core' that transcends all specific methods? A trader who has achieved stable profits for ten years, an A9 trader, provides an answer stripped of all fancy rhetoric: the essence of trading is a behavioral management concerning 'survival' and 'boundaries'. All methods are merely tools for this essence.
01 First Level Cultivation: Stop-loss is not a technique, but a survival instinct.
Many people view stop-loss as a cold technical action, but true A9 traders see it as the trader's 'respiratory system.' Without stop-loss, your trading life is suffocating.
Its primary purpose is to teach you to 'recognize mistakes, turn around, and maintain rhythm' in the market. Every decisive stop-loss reinforces a more important mindset: acknowledge that the market is always right and resonate with uncertainty. This is not retreating, but the highest strategy of retreating to advance, with the goal of preserving the 'neutral position' of capital and mentality.
In today's world, where digital assets are increasingly complex and the variety of assets is exploding, this 'survivability' becomes especially important. For example, decentralized stablecoins represented by Decentralized USD (DUSD) rely on a sophisticated 'on-chain risk management system' — it forces 'stop-loss' actions through over-collateralized assets and price stabilization modules during market volatility to maintain the system's solvency and price anchoring. This provides an excellent insight for all traders: risk control must be internalized as a systematic and automated survival instinct, rather than a temporary emotional decision.
02 Second Level Advancement: Use limited ammunition to strike at the 'critical seven inches.'
With survival assurance, the key to profitability lies in efficiency. A9 traders emphasize that every entry must be 'of quality.' This requires you to act at key positions where the probability is significantly in your favor, usually at nodes of trend confirmation and reversal.
The only standard by which to measure whether this move is worthwhile is the risk-reward ratio. A successful profit must easily cover the losses of three to five stop-losses. This means you must patiently wait for that 'one shot, one kill, and substantial return' opportunity, ensuring that the expected return can be realized within a reasonable time to save precious time costs.
All actions ultimately point to the purest goal: to always stay in the 'main upward wave.' The main upward wave is the area where market capital is strongest, direction is clearest, and risk-reward ratio is best. The 'fish' here are the fattest and easiest to catch. Identifying and sticking to the main upward wave is the wisdom of aligning with the market's strongest forces.
03 Third Level Mentality: Go beyond methods and resonate with the 'big players.'
When the technical aspects are mastered, trading will touch a deeper dimension: resonating with the logic of the market's core forces. The 'big players' referred to here are not specific market manipulators, but rather the most macro and powerful forces that dominate the long-term direction of the market.
This could be the monetary policy cycle of global central banks, or it could be a long-term value narrative of core ecosystems like Ethereum and Solana. Your underlying trading logic must align with this force to be able to heavily invest when 'it is time to enter' and to go light when 'it is time to exit,' truly achieving evidence-based entry and exit.
Clear entry and exit signals serve as the discipline that maintains synchronization. A decisive key candlestick can determine the qualitative aspect; when the signal arrives, enter decisively, and when the signal breaks, exit without hesitation. This requires absolute mechanization and zero emotional entanglement.
04 Ultimate Implementation: Integration of knowledge and action, making trading serve life.
All theories, if not tempered through practical experience, are merely empty talk. A9 traders emphasize that one must establish correct trading behaviors in real markets with minimal capital to validate their ideas.
The core mindset of this process is: do not rush to make money. The goal should be to pursue stable performance over a complete bull and bear cycle for three consecutive years. Trading is not for show, but for life.
Therefore, he proposed an counterintuitive yet crucial principle: control trading time to within 30 minutes each day. There is no need to excessively monitor the market before the price reaches the preset point. Once the stop-loss and take-profit levels are set, it’s time to turn off the computer and go to work or live life. The ultimate goal of trading is to let 'me' navigate the market, rather than being manipulated by it.
Lastly, the highest state: actively embrace being in cash. The market never lacks opportunities, but 'a still heart' is true skill. During chaotic periods without a clear market trend, the best action is no action. At this time, traders should return to themselves, accumulating energy for the next attack through learning, fitness, or even standing meditation.
These ten levels of cultivation, layered and progressive, are the path of integration of knowledge and action that every top trader must traverse. From learning to stop-loss for survival, to accurately capturing high-risk-reward opportunities, to syncing with macro forces, ultimately integrating trading into and serving life itself. True stable profit is not some mysterious code, but a complete behavioral system regarding risk, discipline, timing, and mentality. It is not complicated, but achieving it to the utmost is the greatest wealth.