That afternoon, a friend sent me a message and asked right away: Is there still hope? I opened a screenshot of his account and was stunned—20,000 US dollars in principal, now reduced to just 5,000 US dollars in remnants.

More despairing details gradually surfaced. He had gone all-in at the peak of SHIB and used 10x leverage. But that’s not the whole story. He placed dozens of trades every day, staring at 1-minute K-line charts until his eyes were red, with fees gradually eating away at his principal. When the account dropped, he would add to his position, repeating like a mantra: "Wait for the rebound, it will rebound." But what happened? The rebound never came, and instead, it headed straight to zero.
The most fatal thing was FOMO. Seeing others making hundreds of times on meme coins, he impulsively went all-in. The next morning, he woke up to find his account in the current state.
I asked him if he could turn things around. My honest answer was: theoretically yes, but first, you need to learn how to survive.
Later, I only taught him three things. They sound simple, but in reality, they go against most people’s instincts.
**First: Stop messing around.** Don’t watch 1-minute charts anymore, don’t chase highs and sell lows. Only act when a certain trend appears. When you don’t understand, just stay out of the market. It’s better to miss some opportunities than to keep making reckless moves.
**Second: Only add to your position when you’re profitable.** Always keep your first trade within 10% of your account, which is 500 US dollars per trade. When you gain 20%, sell half, and let the remaining position run with a trailing stop to let profits grow naturally.
**Third: Stop-loss is not optional.** Set a stop-loss on every trade. Cut losses immediately at 5%. If you hit the stop-loss twice in one day, close the software and give yourself time to cool down.
This approach isn’t pretty, and it won’t make you rich overnight. But it works. After two months, his account was back to 100,000 US dollars. Although he didn’t hit a new high, he was alive again.
I want to say to those still struggling in the water: don’t rush to turn things around. First, learn how to survive. Most traders losing money aren’t unaware of the market; they just keep holding onto the hope that "it’ll bounce back if I hold on a little longer."
If you truly want to change your situation, review your trading records carefully. Where was your stop-loss? What was the reason for each addition? Did you violate your principles because of FOMO? Revisit the entire process, and you’ll see clearly how you gradually lost your money.
Steady steps lead to lasting smiles.