Stop-loss is the ultimate card for winners; stubbornly holding on will only deepen losses. I have a friend who last year watched 20 million evaporate to 3 million, and she was anxious every day. The more anxious she was, the more she chased the rally, and the faster she lost. The most I told her was one sentence: "Hit the brakes first, don’t look for 100x coins anymore."

She finally listened, withdrew 1 million to reallocate, focusing on a leading platform coin, locking in profits. In half a year, this money pulled her out of the predicament and eventually turned her portfolio into tens of millions.

**Why do most people never recover once they lose? The three most common pitfalls**

First is stubborn holding. Data shows that 82% of liquidations come from concentrated positions. Many people lose 50% and keep adding to their position, ending up zeroed out. Second is frequent trading—fees pile up like mosquito bites, eating away at the principal, trapping traders in a chasing rally cycle. Third is emotional dominance—FOMO takes over, leading to chasing meme coins and quickly wiping out the account.

**How to truly "hit the brakes" during a drawdown**

The first trick is forced position splitting. Divide your funds into 5 parts, only move one part at a time, keep single-trade losses within 10%, and no more than 20% in a single coin. What’s the benefit? Even if you make a wrong call, losses are manageable.

The second trick is to only follow certain, high-probability trends. Don’t always try to bottom fish; wait for major breakouts—like the 30-day moving average turning up with increased volume at previous highs—that’s the real signal.

The third trick, which sounds simple but most can’t do: once floating profits reach 100%, sell an equivalent amount of the principal. This way, the remaining position becomes "cost-free," and your mindset becomes a hundred times more relaxed.

**Practical logic for turning around from a deep pit**

Don’t expect to hit it all at once; use the pyramid adding method. Enter with 20% of your position first, then add another 15% when floating profits reach 15%. Gradually stacking like this keeps your mindset stable and allows you to withstand drawdowns.

When to take action? When the daily MACD shows a bullish divergence and also breaks above the 20-day moving average; or when trading volume declines for three consecutive days, indicating selling pressure is exhausted. These high-probability opportunities are the right time to increase leverage.

Profit-taking should be dynamically adjusted. Set an initial target of 30%, and once achieved, immediately move your stop-loss to breakeven. When the price breaks previous highs, start trailing your stop to lock in gains.

**How small funds can turn things around**

The most practical is the position rolling strategy. Use 5%-10% of your funds to quickly buy and sell mainstream coins like Bitcoin and Ethereum, profit from quick trades, and add to your position when profitable. Keep the principal steady. Focus only on BTC and ETH, accept the "slow is fast" logic, and through multiple steady operations, you can eventually turn things around.

**The correct way to use leverage**

Leverage itself isn’t the devil; losing control of leverage is. Traders using over 20x leverage typically don’t survive more than 3 months—that’s a hard rule. I personally never use more than 5x leverage. When the trend is clear, I add; when the trend is unclear, I immediately reduce leverage—prefer to earn less but stay alive.

**Final words**

The crypto world rewards disciplined people. Losses are not the real problem; the real danger is not hitting the brakes. Stop-loss is your spark for a turnaround. My friend later stopped using leverage, locked her funds, and gradually stabilized, eventually returning to the tens of millions level.

Don’t always think about doubling quickly; this is a marathon. Living longer is a thousand times more important than earning fast. As long as your principal remains, the next opportunity is just around the corner.