From liquidation to turnaround, I took three years

Sharing my own story, something I’ve never mentioned to you before.
In 2019, I just entered the crypto world, like most brothers, I knew nothing, envied others’ successful trades, and secretly opened a 20x leverage long position.
At that time, Bitcoin was just over ten thousand, I invested 20k USDT, thinking: if it rises 10%, I double my money, feeling great.
But what happened? On the third day, a sudden drop hit, and I got liquidated.
20k USDT, gone in less than a week.
That night, I sat in front of my computer, smoked half a pack, with only one thought in my mind: I’m not suited for this market.
But I didn’t give up. I spent three months reading all the available candlestick data, trading psychology, and position management books.
I studied while testing with small amounts, 50 USDT, 100 USDT per trade, learning from losses, and staying humble after gains.
During the DeFi summer of 2020, I caught the wave.
From 5,000 USDT to 30k USDT.
But when you get carried away, trouble follows. I heavily chased high on UNI, didn’t set stop-losses, and lost 40% in one night.
30k turned into 18,000.
After that, I set three strict rules for myself, which I still follow today:
First, never lose more than 3% of the total account on a single trade.
No matter how optimistic I am, if I hit that limit, I exit.
Second, don’t hold overnight positions. Close all trades before sleep or reduce leverage to below 0.5x.
Third, open at most two trades per day, then close the app.
Trade less, avoid overtrading.