《I used to always want to seize every opportunity. Later I realized: the people who truly make money all know how to give up》

When I first entered the crypto circle, my biggest problem was being afraid of missing out. Every day I opened the market chart to see which coin was pumping fast, which sector suddenly exploded. I always felt like there were opportunities everywhere in the market. If I didn’t trade for a day, I felt like I was behind everyone else. Back then, I believed hard work meant constantly making trades, and that the more trades I made, the higher the probability of making money.
After a few years of trading, I finally realized that this is the beginning of many people losing money.
I once had a period where my account was around $8,000. I traded frequently every day. Sometimes I saw a rise and chased in, made a little profit and ran right away; sometimes I saw a drop and thought an opportunity had come, so I quickly tried to catch the bottom. I opened more than ten positions in a day. It looked like I was working especially hard, but in reality most of the trades were driven by emotions. I remember one time when the market was swinging a lot: I stared at the charts from morning to night, and my account slowly turned from profit into loss. In the end, I lost nearly $2,000 on the last day. Later, when I reviewed that trade, I found that the real problem that day wasn’t the market—it was that I had no plan at all. I was just being dragged along by the market.
That incident made me understand: trading isn’t about making money the harder you work; it’s about how disciplined you are, and how likely you are to survive long-term.
For many traders, losing money isn’t because there are no opportunities, but because when there are too many opportunities, they don’t have the ability to filter. They get anxious when they see others making money, they panic when the market rises and they might miss out, and then they end up chasing again and again—becoming the bag-holders.
The people who achieve stable profits long-term have a different biggest strength—not prediction, but waiting. They know which money should be made and which shouldn’t. They won’t change their plan just because the market is up for a day, and they won’t let other people showing off profits disrupt their own rhythm.
Over these years, I’ve summarized several “trading iron rules” for myself. First, don’t open positions when there’s no certainty. I’d rather miss the trade than take part casually. Second, never chase a rally that has already gone crazy upward. When the market is hottest, risk is often building up. Third, position sizing must be reasonable. Don’t go heavy just because you like a move and give yourself room to make mistakes. Fourth, any “buying the dip” must come with patience. It’s not about buying just because it drops; it’s about waiting until the market truly stabilizes. Fifth, as long as the trend hasn’t changed, don’t trade against the trend easily. Don’t always think you need to prove you’re smarter than the market. Sixth, control your trading frequency. In many cases, doing less actually makes more than trading constantly. Seventh, keep emotions stable. After streaks of winning, don’t get inflated; after streaks of losing, don’t rush to get even. Eighth, learn to stay in cash—waiting itself is also a trading capability.
Looking back now, those loss experiences back then were actually caused by my own impatience. At the time, I kept thinking I had to seize every opportunity. Later I understood: the market has opportunities every day, but it doesn’t have an opportunity that suits you every day.
If you want to support a living through trading, what you rely on isn’t trading every day, but long-term stable profitability. A truly mature trader isn’t someone who makes money every day, but someone who stays calm most of the time, and then waits for their own opportunity.
Lately, market volatility is still quite obvious. Many people easily get affected by short-term price action. When it’s pumping, they’re afraid of missing out; when it’s dropping, they’re afraid of losing even more—until it turns into emotional trading.
In the end, when it comes to trading, it’s not about who reacts faster, but who can control themselves better.
I don’t share stories about getting rich overnight, and I won’t create anxiety. I only share the experience I accumulated after years of trading and stepping into traps with real contract execution. I hope that every serious trader can take fewer detours, protect their principal, and keep going in this market for the long term.