My friend has finally come back to life—no longer staring at the K-line with a phone at three in the morning, no longer pulling their hair and cursing at a big bearish candlestick, meals can be enjoyed, sleep can be deep, and when we meet, the conversation no longer revolves around 'contracts', 'leverage', and 'bottom fishing'.
He took a full six months to come out of it; at first, no advice was useful. On the day he went from losing 40,000 to just a few hundred, he said with red eyes, 'If I can just gather some more money, I can break even,' then turned around and borrowed from online loans, only to be crushed by the market again. It wasn’t until the collection calls reached home and his parents were in tears that he suddenly woke up: this is not trading cryptocurrency; this is gambling with his life.
Contracts are really not something for people to play with. The thrill of turning 1500 into 40,000 feels like you've been injected with a powerful stimulant, making you feel like the chosen one, that making money should be this easy. But you forget that leverage is a double-edged sword; the dozens of times amplification can make you a deity in two days or bring you back to zero overnight. Stocks at least have a 10% limit on rises and falls, but in the cryptocurrency world, it's common to double or lose everything in a day. That kind of heart-pounding excitement following the K-line, once you get a taste, it's hard to adapt back to the monotonous 9 to 5.
The first step he took to quit trading contracts was to uninstall all cryptocurrency apps, letting his wife manage the phone password so he didn't even have login access. In the beginning, those first few days, he was restless, always wanting to check the market, itching to do something, so he went running, fishing, or had tea with friends—filling the time he used to spend watching the market with tangible life activities. He said the hardest part wasn't being broke, but the constant thought in his head of 'try just once more.' At that moment, he had to give himself a stern wake-up call, remembering the pressure of online loan collections, remembering the worried looks from his parents.
Later he found a proper job, working 9 to 5. Although the salary wasn’t as quick to come as trading cryptocurrencies, every cent felt solid. He began to learn how to save money, plan expenditures, take his kids to the park on weekends, and cook with his wife in the evenings. Gradually, he discovered that life, unaffected by K-lines, could be so stable. He said looking back now, that 40,000 felt like a dream. After waking up, he realized that the essence of life isn't about chasing the thrill of getting rich overnight but about steady and solid progress.
In fact, the man trading cryptocurrencies wants to return to a normal life, and the reasoning is simple: first, cut off the thought of 'recouping losses,' then redirect attention back to reality. The thrill of contracts is false; only the people around you, the solid job in your hands, and the stable days are real. Don’t always think about gambling to win everything back; what you're betting isn't just money, but your own life. Delete the apps from your phone, pay back the money you borrowed, find something that can keep you focused, and slowly you will find that life without K-lines can be so solid.
