When my account had only 1000U left in 2019, I felt like I was holding the last bullet in my hand. After quitting my job without a plan, I stared at the candlestick charts every day, repeatedly asking myself: should I listen to my intuition or follow the rules? In the end, I chose the rules.

That day, I wrote down three ironclad trading principles on my computer: the maximum amount for a single trade is 20% of total funds (no matter how much I want to chase that wave), a maximum of 3 trades per day (to prevent being overwhelmed by market sentiment), and when profits exceed 30%, I immediately withdraw half (to lock in floating gains). It sounds simple, but these rules later became my protective umbrella in the crypto market—when a certain altcoin skyrocketed 200% in one day, I didn’t rush in; when the market halved, I still slept soundly.

The biggest enemy of the market is not volatility, but emotion. There are two common types of traders in the crypto space: one is led by the market’s nose, and the other executes coldly like a machine. I must admit, I identify more with the latter.

The most memorable time was when a popular coin surged 150% in 24 hours, and the chat was flooded with "If you don’t rush now, you’ll miss the opportunity." I pulled up historical data and backtested: coins with similar gains have a very low probability of maintaining high levels within three days. So I only took a small position with 5% of my capital, and when it dropped 8%, I cut my losses immediately. The next day, that coin turned downward—not because I was particularly smart, but because I let the data, not emotion, make the decision.