After a year of mixing around without seeing any improvement, the first reaction is often to blame the market conditions, but in most cases, the real issue isn't there.

Many people have been off course from the very beginning. I've blown accounts and wiped out zeroes myself, stepping into countless pitfalls. Later, when the account stabilizes, it's not because my mindset has hardened—quite the opposite. It's because after repeated lessons from the market, I finally understood a key principle: whether retail traders can survive and come out alive isn't as determined by technical skills as many think. The real gap is often in underlying cognition.

When the capital isn't large, the most common mistake is going all-in. Honestly, there's no need to trade every day; just catching a decent trend during the right cycle already puts you ahead of most people. Frequent trading may seem diligent, but in reality, it's a constant internal drain.

Let's talk about cognition. Not understanding market structure or fund flow logic means that even if you occasionally make a profit, you probably won't keep it. Money gained by luck will ultimately be lost in the same way. This isn't a curse; it's just probability.

Execution isn't about shouting slogans; it's about muscle memory formed through repeated practice. Many people tend to lose control when good news comes out. You need to know that the moment news is released is often not the start of an opportunity but the accumulation of risks in the shadows. The market is never short of stories, but the ending of those stories usually requires someone to take the final step.

Medium- and long-term trading isn't about blindly holding. It's not about how firm your conviction is, but how you allocate cash and roll over positions. Short-term trading is even more pragmatic: only trade coins with volume, volatility, and emotional movement. Those with low activity, even if the trend is correct, can grind people out and force them to exit.

Finally, these are the bottom-line bottom lines. If you buy wrong, you have to admit it. Stop-loss is a must-have operation, not a choice; don't greedily chase too many technical methods—master one or two thoroughly, that's far better than learning everywhere; and pay more attention to the downward trend patterns than the magnitude of the rise. Bottoms formed by panic selling are often easier to repair.

All of these are not theories from books but insights gained through repeated pitfalls. Remember one key point: losing less is essentially making money. If the direction is correct, effort is meaningful; if the direction is wrong, the more diligent you are, the easier you are to exit early.