In the crypto world, the longer you walk this path, the more you realize a phenomenon: most people make money, but few can preserve it.

I have many examples around me—some go all-in on contracts and get liquidated, others suddenly get rich from airdrops only to return to zero. Having seen so much over the years and through my own exploration, I’ve gradually developed a system. Over the past five years, my account curve has basically been climbing at a 45-degree angle, with the maximum drawdown never exceeding 8% of the principal.

It’s not based on insider information, not about desperately hunting for airdrops, and definitely not about superstition or mystical K-line charts. It’s a set of operational methods I’ve summarized myself, turning trading into a relatively stable activity.

The core of this method boils down to three key points, which I’ll explain today. It’s not very difficult, but the execution is counterintuitive—if you can truly stick to it, you’ll find that those daily watch-the-market-and-guess-the-rise-and-fall strategies are actually very inefficient.

**Tip 1: Protect your profits; locking in gains is fundamental**

The first thing I do when opening a position is set both take-profit and stop-loss orders. These two orders are like body armor for your profits.

My rules are very strict: once profits reach 10% of the principal, I execute immediately—take half of the profit out, transfer it to a cold wallet, and never touch it again. The remaining 50% of the profit continues to run in the market.

At this point, there’s a key mental shift: you’re now playing with “money that came out of nowhere.” If the market continues to rise, you use the profits to enjoy compound growth, and the snowball gets bigger and bigger. If the market suddenly reverses, you only lose half of your gains, and your principal remains safe.

Over five years, I’ve withdrawn profits more than thirty times this way. There was a particularly intense week where I withdrew 180,000 USDT in just one week. The exchange’s customer service even made a video call to verify, thinking I was laundering money.

The logic is quite simple: market opportunities are always there, but if your principal is gone, the game is over. Instead of greedily chasing that last percentage point of profit, it’s better to lock in the certain gains. After doing this many times, the account’s growth curve begins to show—not a sudden spike to wealth, but a steady upward staircase.