I have met many people who enter the crypto market with a single dream: Fast – Many – Quick. Doubling their account, x10, even x100. But there is a question almost no one asks themselves from the beginning:
👉 If I am wrong, how much am I willing to lose?
The harsh truth of the market is this:
You can be right 10 times in a row, but just one uncontrolled loss can wipe out all your gains back to zero.
Long-term survivors are not soothsayers predicting every move correctly, but “risk management accountants.” Before entering a trade, they have already calculated the worst-case scenario – and accept it.
Why Do You Often Get “Blown Away”?
Most large losses do not come from lack of knowledge, but from psychology. The two most common traps are:
Luck-based psychology
Price drops but still comfort yourself: “It will bounce back.”
Result: small losses are not cut, turning into big losses, then account burn-out.
Revenge trading
Losing a trade and immediately wanting to recover. Entering trades continuously, ignoring analysis, driven only by emotion.
Result: losses pile up.
Crypto trading is 24/7, highly volatile, plus leverage. These three factors combined, if not clearly limited beforehand, will let emotions completely control your actions.
When emotions speak, reason is almost zero.
Risk Management Is Not About Restricting Yourself, But About Survival Oxygen
The difference between an ordinary person and a skilled trader is not in prediction ability, but in discipline enforcement.
Risk management is not something that prevents you from making money; it’s what ensures you still have money to continue playing.
Below are my personal rules (you can adjust them, but they must definitely be there):
Each trade should not lose more than 2% of total capital
For example, with 100,000 USDT, each trade can only lose 2,000. This is a hard limit, non-negotiable.
Clear capital allocation:
50% for core assets like BTC, ETH
20% for potential sectors
30% keep cash for opportunities
Stop-loss is more important than take-profit
I don’t aim to sell at the exact top, but I always ensure: if wrong, I cut.
No matter how much I trust a coin, as soon as it hits the stop-loss point, I exit immediately, without hesitation.
Protecting capital is protecting your right to keep playing.
Build Your Own Trading Framework, Don’t Trade in the Dark
Many people look at charts every day, chasing peaks and bottoms, because they don’t have a clear decision-making system.
You can build one in 3 steps:
Step 1: Identify the Suitable Style
If you are working and don’t have time to monitor the market:
→ Don’t do short-term trading. Use DCA or swing trading.
If you can tolerate volatility and have time:
→ You can participate in hot trends, but enter quickly – exit quickly, don’t turn short-term trades into “legacy coins.”
Step 2: Turn Rules into Actionable Items
Avoid vague statements like:
“Buy when price drops a lot”
“Sell when in profit”
Be specific:
“BTC on the MA30 on the daily chart and RSI below 40, then start entering partial positions”
“Take 50% profit at 20% gain, move stop-loss to break-even”
The more specific, the less emotional interference.
Step 3: Regular Review, Not Blame
Every week, I review my trading history, regardless of profit or loss, and ask myself:
👉 Did I follow the plan?
If I violate it due to emotion, I impose a penalty: for example, no trading for 1 day, or only demo trading.
Discipline is built through the price paid.
Conclusion
The market is not short of famous people, but short of those who survive long enough.
Those who go through both bull and bear markets are not always right, but they never let a mistake destroy their entire trading career.
Remember:
Your goal is not to get rich overnight
But to survive long enough for opportunities to repeat
Look at the price board less, and check your limits and rules more. That is the boundary between a player and a professional trader. Learning is always the greatest asset you have in this market.
This page may contain third-party content, which is provided for information purposes only (not representations/warranties) and should not be considered as an endorsement of its views by Gate, nor as financial or professional advice. See Disclaimer for details.
Survivors in the market all understand one thing: Losses must be lost with a plan, profits must be gained with discipline.
I have met many people who enter the crypto market with a single dream: Fast – Many – Quick. Doubling their account, x10, even x100. But there is a question almost no one asks themselves from the beginning: 👉 If I am wrong, how much am I willing to lose? The harsh truth of the market is this: You can be right 10 times in a row, but just one uncontrolled loss can wipe out all your gains back to zero. Long-term survivors are not soothsayers predicting every move correctly, but “risk management accountants.” Before entering a trade, they have already calculated the worst-case scenario – and accept it.