The real shortage in the crypto world is not opportunity. It's capital and patience.

Last week, a friend of mine came to me. He had only saved up $5,000 and was eager to quickly turn things around in this market rally. I glanced at his account records and was silent for a few seconds.

"Don't move now," I said, "Stay steady."

"Not entering the market means missing out on the opportunity," he said anxiously, "Wouldn't that mean big losses?"

I forced a smile. He wasn't missing anything; he was just always jumping in at the worst moments. My words aren't just empty talk — I used to be the same, chasing gains and selling on dips every day, and my capital of a few thousand dollars was whittled down to just a few hundred. Back then, I was convinced that "not trading tonight means missing out on billions," but in reality, I lost the most.

The turning point was when I set a strict rule for myself: at most two trades per week, and if I didn't have at least 90% confidence, I would stay out of the market. The first trade took four days to execute. Seriously, I just sat and watched the charts for four days until SOL retested a key support level before making a move. Six hours later, I took profit and earned $1,100 net. At that moment, I finally realized — my previous losses weren’t due to technical issues but because I lost my rhythm and was too greedy.

Data actually explains the problem well. Low-frequency traders — the bottom 20% of traders with the fewest trades — can achieve an annualized return of 18.5%. What about high-frequency traders? Only 11.4%. It may not seem like much, but over the long term, the difference is enormous.

Where is the root cause? Trading costs eat away at profits. If your capital turnover reaches 30 times a year, transaction fees alone can consume 9% of your assets. And that’s not even the worst part. Even more frightening is the physiological response — over-traders experience anxiety at three times the rate of average investors. I’ve been through that state: half a day without checking the charts makes me restless, but when I do look, I can’t figure out anything, and finally, I just start making random moves.

Looking back, turning things around in the crypto world has never been about speed — it’s about patience. When your capital is small, you must cherish every opportunity to act.