I have a friend who turned 1,500 yuan into 40,000 through sheer effort. It sounds like a fairy tale, but it really happened. What was the result? He didn't cash out, but instead kept thinking, "If I double again, I can buy that car." The story that followed is easy to guess—he fell into the hell of "getting back to break-even - margin call - keep trading," watching his account turn from green to red, and even missing the chance to raise funds for his mother's surgery because he ran out of money. This kind of regret is more than just losing money.

Many people still believe in phrases like "doubling in one minute," but I want to be straightforward—this is the biggest trap in the crypto market. It's not the market itself that’s the problem, but the distorted mindset.

Leverage trading is not investment; it’s gambling. Don't dress it up as a "risk management tool." Essentially, it’s betting money on probabilities. The most terrifying part is that it changes your perception of yourself. When you make money, you think you're a genius; when you lose, you blame the market’s unfairness. Luck is mistaken for ability. Once the market reverses, anxiety and losses pull you into a vortex.

If you also feel lost in this quagmire, I want to share three paths that might help you climb out:

**First: Let go of the obsession with "getting back to break-even" and learn to cut losses**

The biggest mistake many make is viewing losses as failure. Actually, admitting losses is like paying tuition to upgrade your understanding. Opportunities are everywhere in the market every day, but if your principal is gone, you can’t play at all. True experts are not those who never lose money, but those who know when to exit before losses escalate. The concept of stop-loss sounds simple, but implementing it requires going against human nature—that’s the hardest part. But it’s this "difficulty" that determines whether you turn things around or sink deeper.

**Second: Divide your money into three parts for allocation**

This is the foundation of stability. Most of your funds should be placed in stable financial products or fixed deposits to ensure basic living expenses—rent, food, emergency funds—are covered. The second part should be invested in index funds of mainstream assets or low-volatility long-term holdings, gradually sharing in the market’s growth. The last part is "learning capital," used for experiencing and learning in the market, but absolutely no high leverage. The logic of this allocation is: most money is protected, medium funds participate in growth, and only a small portion is used for trial and error. Even if the trial fails, it won’t hurt your core.

**Third: From "market watcher" to "life enthusiast"**

An interesting phenomenon: the more obsessed you are with market movements, the worse your decisions. The reason is simple—watching the market intensifies anxiety and impulsiveness. Seeing those numbers fluctuate, you can’t help but want to trade. So some people delete trading apps and leave chat groups full of boastful traders. They use that time, originally spent watching the market, to exercise, learn, or do side jobs. When your focus shifts to self-improvement, the short-term market fluctuations naturally lose their appeal. Conversely, those who aren’t tempted by "small profits" tend to live more grounded lives.

Later, my friend (, for convenience, I’ll call him Afan), gradually changed. He reduced his original 50x leverage to 0.5x, and often just held coins or invested regularly. Over a year, his savings returned to six figures, and life became more stable again. He said, "Real money-makers are never faster than others; they’re just steadier."

The cruelest part of the crypto market is that it uses the illusion of getting rich quickly to turn people’s lives into a "life sentence." Every day, people wait for that doubling opportunity, but in waiting, they miss out on life itself. Moving steadily is the way to go. It sounds old-fashioned, but in practice, it’s the hard truth.