Whenever the market heats up, someone always asks me the same question: How did you go from $3,000 to over $40,000? When was the big opportunity you caught?

Honestly, never.

There was no moment of divine intervention or miraculous turnaround. What truly changes the outcome are those moments when you don’t mess around—countless times of biting your lip and holding back from trading.

When a novice first started learning trading with me, I didn’t rush to teach him about indicators or specific codes. The first thing was to fill in all the "big pits" that he might easily fall into.

The initial market track he was watching was almost against human nature. The coin price jumped up and down, about to break previous highs, but then a big bearish candle slammed it back to the start. This kind of market is the easiest trap for beginners: mistaking false breakouts as buy signals and going all-in with heavy positions.

Our observation at the time was straightforward: the 4-hour chart repeatedly tested high levels, but each rally was ruthlessly suppressed. On-chain activity wasn’t increasing, clearly indicating that big funds were suppressing the price to accumulate positions. At this stage, heavy trading is just giving free work to the exchange.

So during the initial bottoming phases, I only allowed him to enter with the smallest position size. The goal wasn’t to make money but to test: once the price drops sharply, is there real buying support underneath? Can this level hold?

For small funds, this is like "testing the true nature" of the market. If you can’t stay calm through these fluctuations, there’s no way to ride the waves later.

The real increase in position size only begins after the pattern stabilizes completely. What do we see? Every dip in price, the bottom gradually rises. The strength of the bears pushing down is weakening. Fewer traders are rushing to escape, and the main players willing to buy at low levels are starting to take control. At this point, the signals become very clear.

This is the right moment to execute a "stepwise position increase."

The key is not to go all-in at once. Instead: if the correction doesn’t break the key support level, add the first tranche; if the price dips again and stabilizes, add the second tranche; if the trend continues, push the final tranche. Each step has clear trigger conditions, each one is well-reasoned.

Because the rhythm is steady and risk control is strict, the profits grow like a snowball.

When he finally caught the move above $40,000 and looked back, he suddenly understood: what really makes a difference isn’t some sudden huge profit. It’s countless times when you hold back from chasing highs or sitting tight when patience is needed.

This path tests not how brave you are, but whether you can accurately identify the "golden window" and deploy your limited ammunition at the most critical moments. The hard truth for small funds to climb out of losses and survive until dawn is this one principle.

Many people are still repeatedly falling into traps and hitting walls, unable to understand the logic of trading. Risk control first, patience second, technical skills third—this order is reversed, and no matter how good your method is, it won’t save you.