Trading cryptocurrencies carries the greatest risk not from misjudging the market, but from a single liquidation that leaves you unable to recover.

When I entered the market in 2017 with $4,200, many around me experienced contract liquidations, some even mortgaged their houses. But my trading curve has always maintained a 45-degree upward trajectory. Over 8 years, my maximum drawdown of principal has never exceeded 8%. It’s not luck, nor insider information, but treating the market as a probability machine, using a few simple effective methods to continuously arbitrage.

**First Trick: Lock in profits and insure each gain**

Set stop-loss and take-profit orders at the moment of opening a position. Once profits reach 10% of the principal, I immediately withdraw 50% of the profit to a cold wallet, and use the remaining "free money" to continue rolling the position. The benefit of this approach is: if the market continues to rise, I can enjoy compound interest; if it reverses, I only give back at most half of the profit, keeping the principal always safe. Over 8 years, I have taken profits 58 times, with the largest weekly withdrawal reaching $220,000. The exchange’s risk control department even conducted a special verification for this.

**Second Trick: Displaced position building, betting across multiple timeframes**

I monitor the daily, 4-hour, and 15-minute charts simultaneously. The daily chart sets the direction, the 4-hour finds the range, and the 15-minute executes precise entries. For the same coin, I usually open two orders: Order A in a breakout on the daily chart, chasing longs with a stop-loss at the previous low; Order B in the overbought zone on the 4-hour chart, using limit orders to lay in wait for short positions. Both stop-losses are controlled within 1.5% of the principal, with take-profit set at over 5 times.

Cryptocurrency markets spend 80% of their time in consolidation. During this period, many others’ liquidation orders appear en masse, but my long and short positions can profit simultaneously on both sides. During the Luna crash in 2022, the price plunged 90% within 24 hours, yet my dual take-profit orders caused my account to increase by 42% that day.

**Third Trick: Treat stop-loss as the cost of buying a ticket**

Many people fear stop-losses, thinking they are a waste. In fact, a stop-loss is paying 1.5% of the capital to gain the opportunity to control the market. When the market is good, move the take-profit to let profits run; when the market is bad, exit promptly to preserve capital. Repeating this cycle, I win far more often than I lose.

In live trading, remember a few disciplines: divide your funds into 10 parts, use at most 1 part per trade, and hold no more than 3 positions at once; after losing two trades in a row, stop trading and rest—don’t open "revenge trades" to chase losses; each time your account doubles, withdraw 20% of profits to invest in US bonds or gold, so you won’t panic during bear markets.

The crypto market is never afraid of your misjudgment; what it fears most is a single liquidation that leaves you unable to stand again. The core of these three methods is to always prioritize survival, with profits second. As long as you stay in the market, with enough time for compound interest, wealth accumulation is inevitable.