I used to be the kind of contract trader who learned a bunch of indicators and executed over ten trades a day. I always set very large stop-losses (afraid of being shaken out), and very small take-profits (afraid of retracement eating into profits), which ended up messing up my account completely.

It wasn't until later that I realized: in the futures market, those who lose money are often the "too smart" ones. They try to catch the bottom and top, study all kinds of complex indicators, but in the end, they are repeatedly shaken out and cleaned up.

The ones who actually make money tend to be "silly"—not chasing perfect predictions, just sticking to strict rules. My current approach is so simple it’s almost ridiculous:

I spend no more than 10 minutes a day watching the charts, and I don’t try to guess market direction at all—just follow the trend. It sounds dumb, but this disciplined simplicity is the key to survival.

**The four core rules:**

First, keep indicators extremely simple. I only use two EMA lines—21-period and 55-period. When the 21 crosses above the 55, I go long; when it crosses below, I go short. If the conditions aren’t met, I don’t trade. No stacking all kinds of indicators, that only confuses you.

Second, focus on the higher timeframe. The 4-hour K-line is my main reference. I only enter trades when the trend is clear and both lines are aligned; I ignore sideways markets. This helps filter out a lot of noise.

I take stop-loss very seriously. Every stop-loss is set at the high or low of the previous candle, with a maximum loss per trade not exceeding 5% of the account balance. When I hit the stop-loss, I cut losses immediately—no emotional attachment.

Finally, let profits snowball. I start with very small positions, and only add as the trend confirms. Once the EMA shows a reversal signal, I close all positions immediately.

I later realized: in futures trading, doing less is always better than doing more; avoiding losses is more important than making big gains. The real test isn’t how complex your technical analysis is, but whether you can stick to those "silly" rules—this requires true discipline.