Discipline and patience are exactly what this market lacks the most.

Some time ago, a friend suddenly asked me, "I only have $3,000 left in my account, can I turn things around?" I could feel the despair in his tone. It reminded me that last year he lost 200,000 yuan, his credit card was almost maxed out, and he was trembling while chatting with me. I only told him, "Yes, but you have to listen to me."

Two months later, he turned $3,000 into $70,000. Today, I want to share this experience with you.

**Step 1: Stay alive first, then think about making money**

The first thing I told him to do was very simple and straightforward—close all positions, reduce leverage back to 1x, and suspend trading for three days.

It sounds like common sense, but many people can't do it. What's the most instinctive reaction when losing money? Operate desperately. The more you lose, the more anxious you become; the more anxious, the more you trade; the more you trade, the more you crash. A vicious cycle is formed. These three days of cooling-off are meant to break this cycle.

Afterward, I only allowed him to use 20% of his account to try trading, with one goal: avoid liquidation. Does this sound too conservative? But surviving in a bear market is more valuable than how much you can earn. Market opportunities are always there; what’s missing is the people who can stay alive until those opportunities appear.

**Step 2: Having a plan prevents reckless trading**

The second change was in choosing coins. I told him to focus only on Bitcoin, Ethereum, and SOL—these three mainstream coins. He was not to touch any other altcoins.

Before entering a position, he had to clearly write down why he was buying, where to set stop-loss, and where to take profit, then send it to me for review. After two weeks, he summarized a mistake collection, analyzing each failed trade.

The most painful thing in the crypto world isn’t losing money, but repeatedly making the same mistake. How many people, after a year, are still making last year’s mistakes? Trading plans are designed to break this cycle. The gap between disciplined and undisciplined traders can be astonishingly large over a year.