I Shorted at 25x Leverage and Lost Everything Overnight
Old Chen stared at the candlestick chart on his screen, a smug smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.
GTC had fallen from 0.289 to 0.224, a drop of more than twenty percent. He’d opened a 25x leveraged short at 0.285, and his unrealized profit had already doubled. “This coin is trash,” he bragged to the group. “The fundamentals are a complete mess. It’s bound to go to zero sooner or later.”
Someone in the group warned him: “Old Chen, GTC’s trading volume is a hundred million today, and money’s pouring in. Watch out for a short squeeze.”
Old Chen brushed them off. He checked his position: 200,000 USDT in capital, 25x leverage, for a notional position of five million. If GTC fell another five percent, he’d make 1.25 million. He’d already decided what to do with the money: buy a Tesla first, then put the rest in a fixed-term deposit.
At two in the morning, Old Chen set a take-profit order and went to bed. In his dream, he was driving his new car, posting a photo of the steering wheel to his social media with the caption, “Crypto changed my life.”
At seven in the morning, his phone started vibrating like crazy.
Still half asleep, he picked it up and saw 99+ notifications in the group. When he opened it, the screen was full of rocket emojis and messages saying, “GTC is going to the moon!” His heart sank. Hands trembling, he opened the exchange app.
GTC: 0.27511.
24-hour change: +20%.
His short position had already been liquidated. The liquidation price was 0.2621; the system had force-closed his position at 3:47 a.m. His 200,000 in capital was gone—not a cent left.
Old Chen slumped on the bed, refreshing the page again and again, hoping there had been some kind of system bug. But the cold zero in his account balance slapped him back to reality.
He scrolled back to the message from the person who’d warned him the night before. Someone had posted a screenshot of GTC’s rally. At 2:30 a.m., a single two-million-dollar order swept through the sell side, pushing the price from 0.235 all the way to 0.289. His liquidation line at 0.2621 had been hit with pinpoint precision.
“That’s what they call a targeted liquidation,” someone in the group said.
Old Chen lit a cigarette, his hands still shaking. He remembered when he’d first entered crypto three years earlier. His mentor had told him, “Leverage isn’t an amplifier. It’s a meat grinder.” Back then, he’d thought his mentor was too cautious. Now he understood: his mentor had been through the grinder.
He quietly exited the futures trading page and opened the spot market. With the last 300 yuan left in his account, he bought a little GTC.
“If you can’t beat them, join them.”
Three days later, GTC had climbed to 0.31. His 300 yuan had turned into 420.
Old Chen gave a rueful smile and posted a screenshot in the group.
“This was the most expensive lesson I’ve ever paid for—and the cheapest one I’ve ever learned.”
After that, Old Chen never touched futures again. He set that line as his phone wallpaper, and whenever he felt like using leverage, he’d turn on the screen and read it.
The crypto world is never short of smart people. What it lacks are people who stick around long enough.
#合约爆仓 #GTC #LeveragedTrading
Old Chen stared at the candlestick chart on his screen, a smug smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.
GTC had fallen from 0.289 to 0.224, a drop of more than twenty percent. He’d opened a 25x leveraged short at 0.285, and his unrealized profit had already doubled. “This coin is trash,” he bragged to the group. “The fundamentals are a complete mess. It’s bound to go to zero sooner or later.”
Someone in the group warned him: “Old Chen, GTC’s trading volume is a hundred million today, and money’s pouring in. Watch out for a short squeeze.”
Old Chen brushed them off. He checked his position: 200,000 USDT in capital, 25x leverage, for a notional position of five million. If GTC fell another five percent, he’d make 1.25 million. He’d already decided what to do with the money: buy a Tesla first, then put the rest in a fixed-term deposit.
At two in the morning, Old Chen set a take-profit order and went to bed. In his dream, he was driving his new car, posting a photo of the steering wheel to his social media with the caption, “Crypto changed my life.”
At seven in the morning, his phone started vibrating like crazy.
Still half asleep, he picked it up and saw 99+ notifications in the group. When he opened it, the screen was full of rocket emojis and messages saying, “GTC is going to the moon!” His heart sank. Hands trembling, he opened the exchange app.
GTC: 0.27511.
24-hour change: +20%.
His short position had already been liquidated. The liquidation price was 0.2621; the system had force-closed his position at 3:47 a.m. His 200,000 in capital was gone—not a cent left.
Old Chen slumped on the bed, refreshing the page again and again, hoping there had been some kind of system bug. But the cold zero in his account balance slapped him back to reality.
He scrolled back to the message from the person who’d warned him the night before. Someone had posted a screenshot of GTC’s rally. At 2:30 a.m., a single two-million-dollar order swept through the sell side, pushing the price from 0.235 all the way to 0.289. His liquidation line at 0.2621 had been hit with pinpoint precision.
“That’s what they call a targeted liquidation,” someone in the group said.
Old Chen lit a cigarette, his hands still shaking. He remembered when he’d first entered crypto three years earlier. His mentor had told him, “Leverage isn’t an amplifier. It’s a meat grinder.” Back then, he’d thought his mentor was too cautious. Now he understood: his mentor had been through the grinder.
He quietly exited the futures trading page and opened the spot market. With the last 300 yuan left in his account, he bought a little GTC.
“If you can’t beat them, join them.”
Three days later, GTC had climbed to 0.31. His 300 yuan had turned into 420.
Old Chen gave a rueful smile and posted a screenshot in the group.
“This was the most expensive lesson I’ve ever paid for—and the cheapest one I’ve ever learned.”
After that, Old Chen never touched futures again. He set that line as his phone wallpaper, and whenever he felt like using leverage, he’d turn on the screen and read it.
The crypto world is never short of smart people. What it lacks are people who stick around long enough.
#合约爆仓 #GTC #LeveragedTrading