In the world of cryptocurrency, those who survive and become wealthy long-term are never lucky but are instead those who adhere to ruthless discipline.

Four years ago, a childhood friend of mine held 20,000 U, patted my shoulder, and said:

“The way to play crypto is to earn enough money to get married.”

His eyes were full of ambition at that time. But just two months later, after two all-in attempts at the peak, his account went to 0.

That night, he sat under the apartment building, smoking continuously, his eyes red.

You said: “Now I don’t even have money to buy a gift for my girlfriend.”

I understand that feeling more than anyone.

In 2020, I once played with leveraged contracts. Just one reversal, the account was liquidated, leaving me with only 500,000 VND, and I had to borrow money from friends to pay the rent.

It was from that desperate bottom that I realized one thing:

Crypto is not a game of chance, but a survival battle by rules.

Later, Long – who also burned his account – managed to grow his account to 7 digits, thanks to 4 hard rules learned from countless tuition payments.

Rule 1: Quick Increase – Slow Decrease → Don’t Panic

In the hidden manipulation phases, you will often see the familiar scenario:

  • Coin increases sharply in a very short time

  • Then adjusts slowly over many days

Once, a major coin increased by 15% in just half a day, then adjusted slightly for 3 consecutive days.

Long started to panic, wanting to cut losses.

I only said one sentence: “Calm down. This is not the time to leave the field.”

Sure enough, by the 5th day, the price surged back.

👉 Quick increases are to attract traders to follow the trend.
👉 Slow decreases are for big players to quietly accumulate.

Encountering this pattern, cutting losses hastily is like handing money to the market.

Rule 2: Quick Decrease – Slow Increase → Absolutely Do Not Catch the Bottom

On the contrary, if you see:

  • Price drops sharply in a short time

  • Then recovers weakly, sluggishly

👉 Very likely: the big team is offloading.

Last year, an altcoin unexpectedly dropped 20% in one day, then rebounded slightly for 3 days.
Long excitedly said: “With such a deep drop, it must be an opportunity to catch the bottom.”

I immediately interrupted: “No. This is offloading during a retracement.”

A week later, that coin dropped another 30%. Luckily, he was not stuck.

Quick decrease – slow increase is not cheap, but a trap.

Rule 3: Look at Prices High Then Look at Volume, Not Emotions

When prices are high, the most dangerous thing is not the decrease, but:

Price increases but volume diminishes.

When Bitcoin approaches the 50,000 mark, many people only look at the price and feel excited.
But I only look at the volume.

  • Price increases

  • Volume is lagging behind

👉 This is a sign that real buying power has weakened, only small money is pushing prices.

In the crypto market: Volume tells the truth – Price lies.

Rule 4: Most of the Time Follow the “Main Force”

Most losing traders do not lose because of lack of knowledge, but because:

  • Want to go against the market

  • Want to catch the top, catch the bottom to appear smart

But the market does not reward the smart, it rewards those who know how to follow the big money.

Big players enter positions → prices move slowly, less volatility
Big players offload → strong volatility, weak recovery

Learn to read behavior, not predict the future.

Conclusion: Survive First, Get Rich Later

Crypto is not a place to change your life overnight.
It is a place:

  • The hasty will be eliminated

  • The disciplined will survive

  • Those who survive long enough will have the chance to become rich

Long and I both burned our accounts. The only difference is:

👉 We choose to learn from pain, not to repeat it.

If you want to go far in this market, remember:

Don't ask, “Will I make money?”, ask “Will I survive?”.

Survive, and the money will come.