Last year, a buddy came to me complaining that he only had $2,700 left. He’d lost a ton before and wanted to make a comeback with this little bit of capital. Honestly, I wasn’t super confident at the time, but I still gave him three tips—and to my surprise, three months later, his account really grew to $50,000.

Looking back, the only reason he survived was that he stuck to a few hard rules. In crypto, knowing a bunch of technical indicators doesn’t help; the key is not to self-destruct.

**First, how to use that $2,700.** I told him to split it into three equal parts, $900 each, and fix the purpose for each in advance. The first part was for short-term trades, but with one rule—maximum two trades per day, and after that, close the app. Don’t stare at the screen until you start seeing things. The second part was to wait for a trend. If there was no bullish pattern on the weekly chart or no breakout on high volume, just pretend that money doesn’t exist. The last part was a lifeline: if the market takes a dive and you’re about to get liquidated, that money will keep you in the game—at least you’ll still be at the table.

Getting liquidated will hurt, but if your principal is gone, you’re out for good.

**Second pitfall: don’t mess with sideways markets.** I used to get slapped around in choppy markets, losing nine out of ten times. Then I figured it out: if daily moving averages aren’t aligned, don’t even look. Only when there’s a breakout above the previous high with strong volume and the daily closes above it do you try with a small position. Made a 30% profit? Withdraw half immediately, and set a 10% trailing stop for the rest.

Catching the entire move from bottom to top? That’s for the gods. For regular people like us, it’s enough to take profits.

**Last tip: don’t let emotions take over.** Before entering any trade, write down your plan: auto-sell if you hit a 3% loss, and if you gain 10%, move your stop-loss to breakeven right away. The longer you stare at the screen, the more likely you’ll do something stupid.

Remember, there are opportunities every day, but if you lose your principal, you’ve got nothing left. That buddy of mine turned $2,700 into $50,000 not because of luck, but because he burned those rules into his bones.