After spending ten years scrambling through the crypto world, I want to share a real story with you—how I went from losing everything, down to my last pair of underwear, then turned it around and reached the million-level.

In mid-2014, I went all-in with 50,000 USD. Like many new users today, I spent every day dreaming about getting rich overnight. Back then, in the bull market, knockoff coins were flying everywhere, and I dared to buy anything. My account peaked at 150,000 USD, and I would grin like an idiot at my phone every day, genuinely thinking I was a genius trader. But when the bear market hit in 2018, the coins I held just plunged—down 30% in a single day, cut in half within a week—and in the end, I was left with only 10,000 USD.

During those two years of hiding out, I devoured whitepapers and slowly figured out some tricks. By 2020, with the DeFi wave in full swing, I finally caught an opportunity. I used my 10,000 USD to buy several decentralized exchanges in batches at the bottom. When it climbed to 1 million USD, I took profits decisively. This run taught me a principle: the market only pays those who are prepared. In 2021, when NFTs went absolutely feral, I tested the waters first, and then went all-in on Axie chain games. Within three months, my account surged to 5 million USD. Since 2022, I’ve been dollar-cost averaging into mainstream coins, and now my holdings have steadily stood above 20 million USD.

But what I want to say is: making money has never been about luck. Many people don’t know how to read candlestick charts, and even those who do only understand them superficially. I’ve found that the real hurdle isn’t whether the method itself is complicated; it’s whether you’re willing to calm down and actually learn. Great principles are simple. Mastering one technical trading setup that you truly understand is far more useful than randomly learning a bunch of indicators.

Today, I’m going to teach you a trading setup that I’ve used for years and that has always worked—Pinbar strategy. The win rate of this setup can reach 90%. The key is that its logic is so simple that even beginners can pick it up.

First, you need to learn how to identify the Pinbar pattern. This candlestick has two necessary conditions: the real body must not be too long, and the opposite-direction shadow (wick) must be more than 2 times the length of the real body. We usually divide it into two types—shooting star and hammer. A shooting star appears at the top of an up move, while a hammer appears at the bottom of a down move. Once you find such a candlestick, tell yourself: only enter trades when this exact pattern appears. Otherwise, stay on the sidelines. Your win rate will improve dramatically.

But here’s the trap: the Pinbar pattern itself is only step one—the position is what determines the outcome. The same pattern, appearing in different locations, has completely different effects. A Pinbar must be at a critical position, such as a major support or resistance level. The shooting star must be at the very top of an uptrend, and the hammer must be at the very bottom of a downtrend. I’ve seen too many people spot a Pinbar pattern and then jump in recklessly—yet 80% of the time those signals turn out to be false.

After you confirm you’ve found a valid Pinbar, the next step is to formulate your trading strategy. There are two ways to enter. One is a breakout entry: place your stop loss on the opposite side of the breakout signal; the other is a retracement entry: wait for the price to pull back to the 50% level of the signal, then enter, with the stop loss on the opposite side as well. When taking profits, remember two things: the risk-reward ratio must be greater than 1:1.5—meaning you only take profit if you can make 1.5 times the amount you risk. At the same time, you should at least capture the price movement corresponding to the single Pinbar candlestick’s amplitude.

For example, if you enter long at a price of 2000 and set your stop loss at 1900, then your take profit must be at least above 2150. As long as you strictly follow a risk-reward ratio of 1:1.5 in the long run, you can still make money even if your win rate is only 40%. And besides, the Pinbar strategy’s win rate is itself as high as 90%.

Someone might say this is too simple—won’t you miss a lot of trading opportunities? I’ll tell you: it’s exactly because it’s simple that it makes more money. When your technical skills aren’t solid yet, simpler methods often work better. Frequent trading usually ends in the worst results. For Bitcoin, it’s enough to see 1–2 valid Pinbar patterns per week. That greatly reduces your trading frequency and lowers the chance of making mistakes.

Of course, there is no holy grail in the market, and the Pinbar strategy will still have losing trades. What I most want to emphasize is this—always set a strict stop loss. Every entry carries risk.

But I want to say even more: in the crypto world, there are never absolute winners or absolute losers. I’ve seen people who made their first real fortune with disciplined strategies, only to crash during black swan events. I’ve also seen people who followed the crowd into massive losses, then calmed down, researched carefully, and eventually found their own rhythm. Some spend time studying indicators but can’t withstand policy changes. Others strictly enforce stop losses, yet still get wiped out by extreme market moves. Technique, mindset, timing, and even a bit of luck—all of them are pieces of the puzzle that shape the final outcome.

Rather than saying crypto is a battleground for monetizing cognition, it’s more like a mirror. It reflects your greed and exposes your fear. Some learn reverence through losses; others develop arrogance through profits. Real growth has never been about always making money—it’s about slowly learning how to coexist with the market through cycles of winning and losing.

Those who post about losses looking for comfort might simply not have found the right way yet. Those who post about profits may not always have things going smoothly. The biggest taboo in crypto is making black-and-white judgments. The market is fair to everyone—it gives every person a chance to make mistakes, and it also gives every person room to correct them. Going far in crypto isn’t about never being wrong; it’s about knowing how to stand up straight after you get it wrong.

Like a diligent fisherman, no matter how hard he tries, he won’t go out at sea in the season of storms and violent rain. Instead, he carefully protects his fishing boat. This season will always pass, and the sunny days will come again. Ride the trend, and you’ll have a life that’s in harmony with the market.