Recently, I’ve seen a lot of novice investors get trapped in the community, and it made me realize that many people simply don’t understand what “cutting leeks” means. In fact, this term has long been common in the investment world. Especially when you’re losing money, friends will joke that you’ve become a “leek.”

Why use “leek” to describe retail investors who lose money? Leeks grow fast and are incredibly resilient—after one harvest, they can keep growing again and again. The investment market works the same way: after one wave of retail investors gets trapped, new retail investors come in right away, again and again, in an endless cycle. That’s why the market is never short of people to take over the position.

In the end, those who get “cut” are usually investors like us—retail traders. Compared with big institutions that have access to information and plenty of capital, retail investors are far behind in both resources and experience. On top of that, many beginners love to follow the crowd—buying whatever others buy, chasing price rallies and panicking out during downturns—until they end up losing badly. Meanwhile, those manipulators and major players rely on an informational advantage: when retail investors are buying at high prices to take the “bag,” they dump their holdings, easily cutting a round of “leeks.”

There are countless ways to cut leeks in the market. The most classic approach is to slowly accumulate at low prices first, then manufacture a fake upward move through wash trading to create the illusion of a surge, drawing retail investors in with good-news headlines. Once retail investors have fully taken over at high levels, the operators turn around and run, and the stock price collapses instantly. There are even harsher tactics—like the “mentors” in fishing groups. They first use fake profit screenshots to earn trust, then lead people to unregulated small platforms. Once you put in a large amount of money, they simply disappear with the funds.

Information asymmetry is also a major problem. Some people use high-frequency trading techniques or get policy information in advance, closing their profits before retail investors even have time to react. The crypto space is even more extreme: scam coins are everywhere, developers hype endlessly, and once enough capital has been attracted, they withdraw and run, causing the token’s value to instantly drop to zero.

So how can you tell whether you’ve become a leek? Ask yourself: do you often blindly follow the crowd and buy without doing any research? Do you have only a vague understanding of how the market works and can’t read candlestick charts? When you’re making money, are you greedy and unwilling to take profits—yet when you’re losing, do you stubbornly hold on without cutting losses? Especially people who chase into positions at high prices and cut at low prices—basically, that’s the standard “leek” playbook.

To avoid getting cut, first you need your own set of methodology. Don’t blindly trust so-called stock-picking or trading “experts.” Learn more, think more, and observe more—then make your own decisions. As Buffett put it: when others are greedy, I am fearful; when others are fearful, I am greedy. During bear markets, you can buy boldly; during bull markets, you must be cautious.

Second, learn to take profits and cut losses. If you reach your target returns, exit decisively. If losses hit your preset ratio, cut losses in a timely manner. Many trading platforms offer stop-loss features—if you use them well, you can avoid a lot of losses. At the same time, don’t put all your money into a single asset; diversifying risk is the way to go.

You also need to get market information in a timely manner. Technical analysis is certainly important, but changes in fundamentals often determine long-term trends. If you’re even slightly careless and miss a major piece of news, you might go from making money to losing money. The good news is that most major trading platforms now provide tools like economic calendars, real-time news, and sentiment indices, which can help you quickly understand market developments.

Finally—and most importantly—choose a legitimate trading platform. Don’t trust small platforms without regulation or unclear origins, no matter how tempting their promises of high returns may be. Investment only makes sense when your funds are safe.

After all this, the core is to understand what “cutting leeks” really means, then do the opposite—so you don’t become the next batch of leeks being harvested. There’s no shortcut in investing. You need to keep learning and reflecting. And for those who’ve experienced losses, it’s even more important to set the right mindset: review your mistakes and, next time, you’ll be able to do better.