The phone vibrated at two in the morning, like a steel needle piercing the silence of the deep night. The moment the screen lit up, I knew it was serious. The sender was a finance person, a girl named Seiko, who had always been so steady that she could calculate accounts down to the last penny.
The crying tone in the voice message was almost shattered into pieces: “Sister, I've gotten myself into big trouble... I invested in something with venture capital, and now there's only a few thousand left. I can't cover the previous hole, I'm really done for!”
After hearing that string of numbers, I pinched my brow. In this volatile market, I've seen too many stories like this—it's not a lack of opportunity, but a lack of discipline to hold on to life in desperate situations. I directly dialed the phone: “If you want to turn things around, delete the word 'gamble' from the dictionary and strictly follow my lead.”
The first iron rule: always keep 'emergency money', not fully invested means leaving a chance for survival.
I had Qingzi split the remaining funds into 5 parts, with no single investment exceeding 40%; the remaining 60% was directly locked in an offline wallet—this money is not 'spare cash', but 'emergency funds', and it cannot be touched even if the market is good.
More importantly, set a strict stop-loss line: if a single loss reaches 15%, exit immediately, and do not entertain thoughts of 'waiting a bit longer' or 'averaging down'. Once, a mainstream cryptocurrency she bought dropped by 12%, and she secretly added to her position to try to catch a rebound. When I found out, I scolded her severely. Within two days, that cryptocurrency broke the stop-loss line, and thankfully, she had cleared her position in advance, or she would have lost her last bit of principal.
Key point: Many people fall victim to 'putting all their eggs in one basket', especially when they are eager to recover their losses. Remember: the market never lacks opportunities, but you only have one principal. Leave enough of a safety cushion to survive the fluctuations.
The second iron rule: only follow the trend, do not be a 'turning point gambler'.
The reason Qingzi suffered losses before was that she made the most common mistake of beginners—always trying to catch the 'bottom of the drop', but ended up catching it halfway up each time. I taught her a simple method: focus on the trend indicators at the daily level; if the moving averages are in a bullish arrangement, enter the market in accordance with the trend; if they are in a bearish arrangement, observe or hedge with a light position; during sideways markets, just lay flat and do not operate.
Last month, during the wave of rising trends in mainstream cryptocurrencies, she followed the signals to enter the market and made a small profit of tens of thousands in three days. In the voice message, there was finally laughter: 'It turns out you can make money without guessing the bottom!' This is actually the truth of the market: the power of trends is far more reliable than your self-proclaimed 'insight'.
The third iron rule: cash in profits; greed is the biggest trap.
I set a strict rule for Qingzi: after each profit, 70% must be immediately withdrawn and transferred away, leaving only 30% to continue rolling. The first time she made nearly 200,000, she hesitated to withdraw, saying, 'Let’s wait a bit; maybe it can double.' I directly opened a video to monitor her operation, and within three days, that cryptocurrency retraced by 18%. She was scared and said, 'This money almost flew away again!'
Of course, the process was not smooth sailing. Once she couldn't help but invest an extra 10%, resulting in losses that exceeded expectations. In the middle of the night, she sent a message saying, 'I don't want to endure this anymore.' I didn't persuade her; I just sent her a screenshot of her loss records and the accounts to be supplemented, letting her choose: accept the consequences or grit her teeth and maintain discipline to turn it around.
Three months later, Qingzi sent a screenshot: the account balance was just enough to fill all the holes, and there was even a bit of surplus. She said that before each operation now, she would recite the three iron rules once, and she no longer dared to rely on her feelings.
In fact, this market has never lacked opportunities to make money; what it lacks is a mindset that can remain steady in the face of temptation and fear, as well as a set of strict disciplines that can be implemented. If you are currently trapped by losses, don't stubbornly hold on, and don't blindly follow the trend in the wrong direction; the harder you try, the more dangerous it becomes.
