I’m done for! I went long on the DOGE contract and directly lost 25 points. Let me talk from the bottom of my heart about the lesson I learned.

Just after cutting the loss, my mindset still hasn’t recovered. I’m posting a real trading record to remind myself and to help my brothers who trade contracts avoid some pitfalls.

This morning a little after 9, I closed my DOGE long position. My average opening price was 0.0847. I held it down to 0.08247, but I really couldn’t take it anymore and got stopped out. On a single trade, I lost 25.73% of the profit—nearly a quarter of the principal was gone. Seeing that number makes me feel worse the more I think about it.

Back then, I entered purely because my brain heated up. During that period, DOGE kept falling. I kept thinking that after dropping this much, it definitely had to rebound. With the idea of bottom-fishing to bet on a rebound, I opened a long position without even carefully checking the overall trend, and I didn’t set a hard stop-loss for myself.

When it dipped a bit, I consoled myself that it was just a small pullback. When it dipped again, I comforted myself that if I held for the long term, I could get back to even. So I kept stubbornly holding on to the floating loss. Contracts use leverage—every small move against you will be magnified many times in losses. The more it fell, the less willing I was to cut. The losses rolled on and kept getting bigger. In the end, watching my account shrink, my mindset completely collapsed. There was nothing I could do but close the position with tears and exit.

Let’s talk about the real lessons I learned from losing money this time:

1. Never go against the big trend—counter-trend bottom fishing is just handing out money
The order book clearly showed a bearish move; everyone could see the price kept going down. Yet I still indulged my own fantasy of a reversal, always thinking I could catch the bottom. Contracts are completely different from spot trading. On spot, you can hold while tolerating the floating loss at most. With contracts, holding the position just means you’ll lose more and more—there can’t be even a shred of luck-based thinking.

2. Stop-loss is not a formality—it’s the lifeline
The biggest problem this time was that I didn’t strictly follow my stop-loss. I kept clinging to the fantasy that “if it drops back, I’ll get back to even,” and I let the losses keep expanding. Trading can’t rely on feelings. Before entering, you should already think about how much loss you can withstand. Once you reach your level, you must decisively exit. If you can’t bear a small loss, you will end up eating a big one.

3. When trading contracts, you must control your position size—don’t over-allocate and gamble on the market
At the time, I didn’t control my position size properly. With just a slight move against me, my account was drained dramatically—there was basically zero room for error. The market never moves according to people’s wishes. Going heavy to bet on a rebound is essentially gambling. Once the price action goes the other way, there’s no buffer at all.

4. Don’t let subjective emotions control your decisions
During my trades, I was completely driven by greed and unwillingness. After I started losing, I refused to admit that my judgment was wrong, and I refused to leave in time. In the end, a small loss dragged into a big one. One of the biggest taboos in trading is being too stubborn and hard-headed about face while refusing to cut.

A warning for everyone trading contracts:

1. Contract leverage is extremely high risk. It’s inherently a high-risk investment. If you don’t have a stable trading system or you can’t control your mindset, try not to touch it—very easily you can lose a large portion of your principal overnight.

2. Never blindly bottom-fish or open positions against the trend. Trading in line with the trend is the foundation for long-term survival. Subjective speculation about the market is the first culprit behind losses.

3. Before every trade, you must plan your stop-loss and position size in advance. Once you set the rules, you must strictly follow them. Don’t hold onto any lucky fantasy that “the market will turn around and save me.” The market won’t accommodate anyone.

4. If holding a position has already produced a large floating loss, don’t fantasize about holding to get back to even. Stop the loss in time to preserve the remaining capital—only then will you have a chance to re-enter again. Stubborn holding will only trap you deeper.

This 25-point loss was a harsh lesson for me. The market never lacks opportunities, but once your principal is gone, everything is gone. Going forward, I will definitely fix my bad habits of holding on and trading against the trend—trade steadily and respect the market. I also hope that friends who see this share will take my losses as a warning, treat contracts rationally, and don’t repeat my mistakes.