I've been in the circle for 8 years. From age 31 to 39, I speak with actual account figures—2021 to 2022 were a watershed in my life, and my account first touched eight figures. Someone asked me how I did it, and I realized the answer isn't that complicated.

Over the years, I've made money and paid tuition fees. Early on, I used 10,000 yuan to stay overnight in a high-end hotel without blinking an eye. At that time, I was young and ambitious, thinking the crypto world was synonymous with getting rich quickly. But now, I understand a principle: instead of spending your life just thinking about making money, it's better to focus on building a stable cognitive system.

**Mindset first, skills second**

People often ask me the secret to trading coins. Honestly, the technical aspects are everywhere online, but mindset is the real dividing line. My core "mindset" over these 8 years boils down to a few points:

BTC will always be the big brother of this circle. To truly get involved, you must keep an eye on it. When it rises, all kinds of altcoins have a chance to dance; when it falls, even small coins have to follow down. ETH occasionally moves independently, but don’t have too many illusions about altcoins—resisting the market downturn is something small coins can't do.

I call the relationship between BTC and USDT a "see-saw"—I've used this analogy for years, and it still works. When USDT starts to rise, it’s a signal—be alert that Bitcoin might be under pressure; conversely, when Bitcoin surges strongly, holding some USDT is a safe move. Simple and crude but effective.

**Secrets of timing**

I've noticed some patterns in the two most active trading periods:

From midnight to 1 a.m. is particularly interesting. Placing orders before sleep often results in catching lows "by chance," and the next morning, you wake up to gains that seem like free money. I've experienced this many times.

From 6 to 8 a.m., these two hours can reveal the market’s mood for the day. If the market fell the night before, and it’s still falling now? Just add to your position—chances are it will rally today. Conversely, if it rose the night before and keeps rising now? My advice is not to be greedy—exit quickly. Usually, the market will drop later that day.

At 5 p.m., don’t sleep. Because of time zone differences, US funds start to become active, and volatility tends to increase. Any movement at this time can escalate into the day’s main trend.

As for those theories like "Black Friday"—I don’t buy into them. Fridays have seen both dips and rises, and sideways movement plenty of times. The key still depends on news; technical "metaphysics" isn’t reliable.

**The most practical advice**

As long as the coin isn’t purely air, and there’s trading volume, don’t panic when it drops. Time will prove everything—three days, five days, a month—you’ll eventually come back.

When you have spare money, buy in batches to lower your average cost, which speeds up getting back to break-even. If you don’t have spare cash, hold tight—it's not a big problem. I’ve seen too many people cut losses at the hardest moments, only to see the market rebound a week later and regret it bitterly.

The most satisfying trade I’ve made was buying a coin at $0.085 and holding it until now, with the account value increasing more than 20 times. How did I do it? No secret—just patience. I endured countless moments of "this time it’s really going to zero," endured the ridicule and sarcasm, and waited until the value was finally released.

This is what I’ve learned over 8 years. Trading coins may look diverse, but in the end, it’s a contest of patience and mindset. Skills can be learned, data can be analyzed, but mindset is something that must be refined over time and with real money.