The illusion of easy money hides a hidden cost.

That night of liquidation is still etched in my mind. The numbers on the screen were jumping wildly, my account instantly surged twelvefold, with a net profit of 1.2 million. But I felt no joy at all; my chest was heavy, as if something weighty was pressing down on me. This money came too "smartly," smart enough to be frightening. After more than a decade in crypto trading, this is considered the most successful on paper, yet it has become my biggest regret.

Let's start from the beginning. Ten years ago, I invested 30,000 yuan into this market, going through the most inexperienced phase of chasing highs and cutting losses, at one point my account was down to just a few thousand. Later, I slowly figured out the reverse copy trading method, thinking I had found the key. It wasn't until the FTX collapse that I truly understood how brutal this market can be.

At that time, a prominent influencer was calling for trades online, claiming that ETH would definitely stabilize at $8,900, urging fans to take a large long position. I looked at the positions he publicly disclosed and opened a 10x short position. As a result, it fell all the way down to around $1,200 before I closed it. The 1.2 million I made was basically from this trade.

Reverse copy trading sounds simple, but in reality, it is quite complex.

The logic of reverse copy trading is straightforward: if most people in the market end up losing, then by going against the majority, one can theoretically make a profit. But putting this into practice? It’s far from easy.

First, you need to filter the copy trading targets. Not all losing traders are worth copying in reverse. Some make occasional mistakes, while others consistently incur systematic losses. The latter are the true "reverse benchmarks." Traders who are truly suitable as reverse targets usually have the following characteristics.