Open the app, and the account balance pops up—an eight-digit number.

I lean back in my chair, the city lights twinkling outside the floor-to-ceiling window. But what flashes through my mind is that sweltering summer night ten years ago, when I sat alone in front of my computer screen, clicking the mouse to make my very first purchase.

35 years old, exactly ten years in the game.

I grew my initial 300,000 to what it is now, never relying on insider info or riding anyone’s coattails. 2,880 days and nights, just like farming—grinding away at the principal, and even more at my mindset. In the end, there’s no secret formula left, just a few iron rules hammered out with real money that might look clumsy as hell.

Today, I’ll share a bit from the heart. If you can truly take just one of these to heart, you’ll save yourself at least a hundred grand in tuition; if you can follow three? You’ll leave more than half the people in the market far behind.

**Rule 1: After a violent surge followed by a slow grind down, don’t panic; after a spike followed by a flash crash, get out fast.**

In my early years, I’d sell at every drop and chase every rally. Only after getting burned a few times did I realize: when the market suddenly shoots up like a rocket and then slowly deflates like a leaky balloon, don’t rush to exit—that’s often someone quietly accumulating.

When it’s truly the top, you won’t get such a “gentle” exit.

The worst is when: massive volume sends the price flying, and then it’s an immediate nosedive—that’s the textbook exit signal. Hesitate for even a split second? The door’s already welded shut.

**Rule 2: A slow rise after a sharp drop is a sugar-coated hook.**

When prices plummet off a cliff and then slowly, hesitantly inch upward, it looks like they’re enticing you to jump in.

A lot of people itch at this point: “It’s dropped so much, time to catch the bottom, right?” So they reach out to buy.

This often...