I crawled into the crypto world from the smell of smoke in the kitchen. At 23, with 3000 yuan in savings in my hand, I heard others say that Bitcoin could double, and I took a leap of faith and bought 1.5 coins—at that time, each was only 2000 yuan, enough for me to wash dishes for half a year.
Later, when the price of Bitcoin surged to 8000, I didn't sell; when it shot up to 60,000, with a floating profit of 90,000, I even wrote my resignation letter, dreaming of financial freedom. What happened? A sudden crash in 'Mentougou' caused the price to plummet, and I panicked, shaking hands, ultimately selling at 4000 yuan, only recovering my principal.
It wasn't until last year when I saw the price of Bitcoin that I realized: those 1.5 coins I bought back then are now worth nearly 6 million.
But honestly, these ten years, the market has slapped me harder than that 6 million; today, I'm pouring my heart out to you—it's not about teaching you to make money, but how to survive.
1. Investing idle money is a lifeline and a matter of dignity.
I've seen neighbors mortgage their houses to gamble in the crypto world, and after blowing up, their wives took the kids and left without looking back. I also had days when my account had only 18 bucks left; luckily, I had set aside 5000 for living expenses, or I would have been starving while watching the K-line.
A bloody lesson:
Using idle money that you won't need for three years to play with coins is like wearing a life jacket in the sea—no matter how big the waves, you won't drown.
Mortgage payments, tuition, and the wife's dowry—those funds are untouchable. If you lose them, you won't even have a table to flip over.
2. Stop-loss? That's a tightening spell for greed.
In 2021, Dogecoin surged from $0.05 to $0.7; I kept thinking, 'I'll sell if it rises a bit more,' and ended up watching it fall back to the starting point, eventually cutting my losses. Now, no matter what coin I buy, I always set automatic stop-losses before entering, selling at the set point, never getting attached to the fight.
Why?
The market is never short of opportunities; what's lacking is the capital to survive until the next opportunity.
The house specifically targets those who say 'just wait a bit'—you're greedy for that little potential profit, but they're eyeing your entire pocket.
3. Leverage? That's the poison candy handed out by the house.
A friend thought he could catch the bottom with Luna last year, leveraged 20 times, and ended up losing 800,000 in ten minutes, crying at the exchange's door. The essence of leverage is 'the casino lends you chips, they take a cut if you win, and if you lose, you jump off the building.'
Ordinary people playing with leverage ≈ sending heads.
A 10% rise doubles your profit, a 10% drop wipes it out; the house can blow up your position with just a line drawn.
If you really want to gamble for profit, it's better to dollar-cost average into mainstream coins—it's slow, but you can sleep soundly at night.
4. Not putting assets in a cold wallet? It's like stuffing money under someone else's pillow.
When FTX went bankrupt, the $3000 I had stuck inside has yet to be recovered. Now, all substantial assets are kept in a cold wallet I control; I accept the hassle of trading.
Remember:
Centralized exchanges can just run away; smaller platforms are even more disaster-prone.
Keeping your private key written down and locked in a cabinet is a hundred times safer than storing it on an exchange's server—your coins are only yours if you can physically touch them.
5. The myth of getting rich quick? It's just a sedative for the retail investors.
Those showing off luxury cars and mansions are either scammers or just temporarily lucky. Real old players quietly dollar-cost average into mainstream coins, still haggling over groceries.
The real winning logic in the crypto world is just one:
Hoard coins in a bear market, cash out in a bull market; follow the cycle—endure the loneliness, and you’ll be able to handle the prosperity.
It's been ten years; I missed out on 6 million, but I also gained two things: a discipline to survive and a heart that can sleep soundly. The market is always there, but once the capital is gone, it's truly gone. Ladies, our end goal isn't to get rich; it's freedom— and the first step to freedom is surviving until dawn.
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