In the past, I was especially afraid of being fully in cash.

As long as there is money in my account, I feel like I should take it out and trade. When prices surge, I fear missing out; when prices fall sharply, I want to buy the dip; when the market moves sideways, I start thinking about betting on a breakout. Every day when I open the trading software, I always feel like the market is waiting for me to place an order.

At the beginning, I even set a rule for myself that I had to make a certain number of trades every day.

As a result, when the market is good I tend to chase prices, and when the market is bad I tend to trade randomly. After a streak of losses, I even can’t help but increase my position size.

Once, I lost several trades in a row. I was already very frustrated, and then at night I saw a coin suddenly surge. All at once I felt energized. At that time, I didn’t even carefully look at the entry level—I only thought about making back the money I had lost earlier.

Just chase it directly.

Not long after, the price dropped again.

That night I sat in front of the computer staring at the screen for hours, and in the end I suddenly found it especially ridiculous. The market never once forced me to trade from start to finish; it was me who insisted on trading.

From then on, I truly began to learn how to wait.

I also left myself 8 iron rules.

**Rule 1: Position size should never affect your life.** Keep trading money and living money separate. If you want to support your family through trading, even more so you must not let one trade affect rent, meals, or normal life.

**Rule 2: Stop-loss must be disciplined.** Losses are not scary; what’s scary is making excuses for your mistakes after you’ve already lost. If you’re wrong, end it. Don’t let one wrong judgment turn into a big loss.

**Rule 3: If the trend is unclear, do less.** When the market is obvious, follow it. When the direction is chaotic, rest. Not every day is suitable for making money, and not every day needs to involve trading.

**Rule 4: When buying the dip, wait for the market to stabilize on its own.** When prices are falling, don’t rush to reach in; first see whether they can keep falling. What many people call bottom-fishing is really just getting trapped a little earlier than others.

**Rule 5: Stay especially calm when prices are rising.** The liveliest places are often where people lose their judgment most easily. When you see others making money, don’t immediately ask, “Can it still go up?” First ask yourself, “If I were buying only now, would I be willing to accept a pullback?”

**Rule 6: Don’t trade when your emotions are bad.** After a loss, rushing to recover it; after a win, becoming inflated—these two states are ones I now actively stop myself from acting on. When people are emotional, it’s very hard to make truly rational decisions.

**Rule 7: Changes in volume and price cannot be ignored.** A price rise does not necessarily mean the market is strong; you have to see whether there is enough participation and support. When prices fall, don’t panic too quickly either—the key is to see whether things stabilize again afterward.

**Rule 8: When there is no opportunity, staying in cash is the answer.** This used to be the hardest rule to follow; now it’s actually the easiest. If I don’t see an opportunity I’m familiar with, I’d rather sit there drinking tea than open a random trade just to prove that I can trade.

Over these past few years, I’ve discovered something very interesting.

People who have just entered the crypto world like to study how to buy; after trading for a while, they start studying when to sell; and once they’ve done it long enough, they instead begin to study when not to buy at all.

Because the money in the market really cannot be earned forever.

If you didn’t catch this one, you can wait for tomorrow; if you missed this wave, you can wait for the next. But if you, because of one oversized position chasing a high, or one stubborn refusal to cut losses, blow a big chunk of your capital, then no matter how good the market gets later, it has nothing to do with you.

Before, what I thought about was how much money I could make.

Now, what I think about is whether I can achieve long-term, stable profitability.

Before, when I saw others making a lot in a single day, I would feel envious; now, when I see others making a lot in a single day, my first reaction is to see how much risk they took on.

Because for people who truly make a living from trading, the most important thing is not how beautiful the account looks on any given day, but whether they can make money when the market is good, stay protected when the market is bad, and still have the ability to start over after a streak of mistakes.

After trading for a long time, you realize that the truly skilled people are not the ones who act every time, but the ones who know when to endure. Being able to control your own hands, protect your capital, and wait for the opportunities that truly belong to you—that is the beginning of a trader’s journey toward long-term stability.