Night of Liquidation
At 2:47 a.m., Chen Lei’s phone screen glowed in the darkness, casting light on his bloodshot eyes.
PHA’s price jumped to $0.0594.
His hands started to shake. Three hours earlier, at 0.0412, he opened a twenty-times leveraged short on PHA. His position was his entire capital—23,000 U. Back then, PHA had just fallen back from a high of 0.06. When he saw that long upper wick, he thought to himself that this kind of small coin could never hold steady; the drop would happen eventually.
The big shot in the group, “On-chain Old Zhang,” was also calling for shorts. Old Zhang said PHA had no fundamental support and relied purely on pump-and-dump to distribute. His target was 0.03. Chen Lei believed him completely. Not only did he open a short, he also borrowed 5,000 U from a friend to add more.
After opening the position, he set a stop-loss on purpose—at 0.048. He thought that was already very conservative, especially since PHA had dipped as low as 0.0353 today.
But what he didn’t wait for came instead: a sudden wave of buy orders at 11 p.m.
First, NIL abruptly surged, climbing from 0.048 all the way to 0.075. The entire small-coin sector’s sentiment was ignited. Then capital began flowing into PHA—0.045, 0.048, 0.05—like the price was riding a rocket upward.
Chen Lei’s stop-loss was triggered at 0.048, but he had set a market stop-loss. That spike was too fast—the actual fill price was 0.052. Before he could react, the price pushed again to 0.055.
He panicked.
He stared at the order book, and only one thought filled his mind: impossible, it can’t go up like this. He started calculating in his head—if he reversed and went long right now, could he earn back the losses? This is the mistake every liquidated trader makes: after losing money, instead of exiting with the stop, they add more in the hope of breaking even.
At 0.056, he opened a ten-times leveraged long.
The next twenty minutes were the longest twenty minutes of his life. When the price reached 0.058, his account showed floating profits. His heartbeat sped up; his fingers hovered over the close position button, thinking that he should wait a bit more, maybe it would hit 0.06.
Then a huge bearish candle slammed down.
0.055, 0.052, 0.049. His long position was liquidated at 0.049.
His 23,000 U of principal—plus the borrowed 5,000 U—went to zero.
The moment his phone popped up the liquidation notification, Chen Lei threw his phone against the wall. The screen cracked at one corner, just like his mood tonight.
He opened his wallet and glanced—his USDT balance was 0.00.
Outside the window, insects chirped at dawn. He sat in front of the computer, motionless, staring at the glaring long bullish candle on the chart. PHA’s highest price was 0.0609—only three cents away from his entry. If he had closed twenty minutes earlier, he would at least have left with more than 10,000 U.
But there was no “if.”
He shut down the computer, lay on the bed, and stared at the ceiling. His phone was still vibrating; someone in the group was posting celebratory messages, and others were sharing screenshots of profits from going long on PHA—eight times returns.
Chen Lei turned the phone over and tucked it under his pillow.
He still had to go to work tomorrow. He thought maybe he should withdraw all the money from Binance and never touch futures again.
But he knew that when payday came next month, he would top up again.
Because every liquidated trader believes that the next time, they can win it all back.
#合约爆仓 #PHA #cryptocurrency
At 2:47 a.m., Chen Lei’s phone screen glowed in the darkness, casting light on his bloodshot eyes.
PHA’s price jumped to $0.0594.
His hands started to shake. Three hours earlier, at 0.0412, he opened a twenty-times leveraged short on PHA. His position was his entire capital—23,000 U. Back then, PHA had just fallen back from a high of 0.06. When he saw that long upper wick, he thought to himself that this kind of small coin could never hold steady; the drop would happen eventually.
The big shot in the group, “On-chain Old Zhang,” was also calling for shorts. Old Zhang said PHA had no fundamental support and relied purely on pump-and-dump to distribute. His target was 0.03. Chen Lei believed him completely. Not only did he open a short, he also borrowed 5,000 U from a friend to add more.
After opening the position, he set a stop-loss on purpose—at 0.048. He thought that was already very conservative, especially since PHA had dipped as low as 0.0353 today.
But what he didn’t wait for came instead: a sudden wave of buy orders at 11 p.m.
First, NIL abruptly surged, climbing from 0.048 all the way to 0.075. The entire small-coin sector’s sentiment was ignited. Then capital began flowing into PHA—0.045, 0.048, 0.05—like the price was riding a rocket upward.
Chen Lei’s stop-loss was triggered at 0.048, but he had set a market stop-loss. That spike was too fast—the actual fill price was 0.052. Before he could react, the price pushed again to 0.055.
He panicked.
He stared at the order book, and only one thought filled his mind: impossible, it can’t go up like this. He started calculating in his head—if he reversed and went long right now, could he earn back the losses? This is the mistake every liquidated trader makes: after losing money, instead of exiting with the stop, they add more in the hope of breaking even.
At 0.056, he opened a ten-times leveraged long.
The next twenty minutes were the longest twenty minutes of his life. When the price reached 0.058, his account showed floating profits. His heartbeat sped up; his fingers hovered over the close position button, thinking that he should wait a bit more, maybe it would hit 0.06.
Then a huge bearish candle slammed down.
0.055, 0.052, 0.049. His long position was liquidated at 0.049.
His 23,000 U of principal—plus the borrowed 5,000 U—went to zero.
The moment his phone popped up the liquidation notification, Chen Lei threw his phone against the wall. The screen cracked at one corner, just like his mood tonight.
He opened his wallet and glanced—his USDT balance was 0.00.
Outside the window, insects chirped at dawn. He sat in front of the computer, motionless, staring at the glaring long bullish candle on the chart. PHA’s highest price was 0.0609—only three cents away from his entry. If he had closed twenty minutes earlier, he would at least have left with more than 10,000 U.
But there was no “if.”
He shut down the computer, lay on the bed, and stared at the ceiling. His phone was still vibrating; someone in the group was posting celebratory messages, and others were sharing screenshots of profits from going long on PHA—eight times returns.
Chen Lei turned the phone over and tucked it under his pillow.
He still had to go to work tomorrow. He thought maybe he should withdraw all the money from Binance and never touch futures again.
But he knew that when payday came next month, he would top up again.
Because every liquidated trader believes that the next time, they can win it all back.
#合约爆仓 #PHA #cryptocurrency