At 2 a.m., the market was still fluctuating, but I had already closed my trading app. Having been in the crypto space for ten years, I’ve seen the extreme boom of 2017 and endured the chaos of 2018. From full-position contracts to now conservative wealth management, I’ve come to understand one thing—those who truly survive in this market don’t rely on betting on the right direction, but on understanding how to use rules to generate certain profits for themselves.

Recently, I made a small move: I activated my long-term holdings, borrowed 50,000 USD1 stablecoins on a DeFi lending platform, and then put them into a yield protocol to earn a steady 20% annualized return. On the surface, it’s just a transfer of numbers, but in reality, it embodies the most core survival principle I’ve learned over the past decade.

**Why exactly 50,000? There’s a key concept behind this called "position management."**

Beginners often ask me: "Can I go all-in on borrowing? Can I leverage to 100,000?" My answer is always: never do that. The winning strategy in DeFi arbitrage isn’t about "greedily taking more," but about "staying alive." The reason I chose the 50,000 figure is because the value of the assets I used as collateral is about 120,000 USD. This means my collateralization ratio is around 40%, well below the 60% safety threshold.

Comparing the different approaches makes it clear—what do beginners think about? Pushing the collateral ratio to 80%, squeezing every penny, chasing maximum capital utilization. What do seasoned traders think? Leaving enough buffer space. Even if the market crashes 20% suddenly (which is common for blue-chip coins), my position remains rock solid.

**Risk and reward are always two sides of the same coin.**

A 20% annualized return sounds good, but you have to ask yourself: is this really profit, or just a number on paper? That’s why I prefer to borrow only 50,000 and keep leverage low—so I can stay clear-headed during any market volatility, rather than being driven by the fear of liquidation.

Ten years of experience has taught me this simple lesson: between certain returns and maximum returns, I’ve long chosen the former. Because surviving is the greatest victory.