This morning around 10 o'clock, a friend I’ve known for nearly two years sent me a trading screenshot—CVC short position, 4x leverage, account showing a floating profit of over $10,000.

He said in the message: "Bro, we've been communicating for two months now, I’m taking a break for now. With Chinese New Year coming up, want me to send you some hometown specialties?"

I looked at the screenshot and smiled. There’s actually some interesting story behind this trade.

Two days ago, during a chat, I casually mentioned: "Don’t rush to go long at this CVC level, the volume looks weak, the structure isn’t solid. Wait for a pullback opportunity, don’t be in a hurry." At that time, he was half-believing, but fortunately held back and didn’t act.

That night, during a voice call, he said he hadn’t been in good shape lately, always feeling itchy to open positions, closing them quickly, and almost not making any money.

I asked him to send me screenshots of his last ten trades, and I only asked one question: "Of these trades, which ones were made according to your plan?"

He paused for a moment and replied: "Honestly... none. I just looked at the chart and suddenly felt like trying, so I clicked in."

I told him: "Your problem isn’t in judging the direction, but in having no method in your entries. Even if you pick the right direction, you can still lose money because your rhythm is off."

The next day, CVC made a fake breakout, and the market sentiment all thought it was about to take off. I told him not to rush, wait until the bulls’ momentum is exhausted before observing again. When it reached a critical area, he asked if he could try shorting. I said he could, but set his stop-loss in advance, control leverage, stick to the plan once opened, and don’t panic in the middle.

He followed my advice. Entry at 0.0564, stop-loss pre-placed, leverage used cautiously. When the price dropped near 0.05, I suggested he lock in some profits, and let the rest ride the trend. This time, he managed to do it without overreacting, panicking, or making reckless moves.

Until this morning, when the price fell to 0.0478, he sent me that screenshot, excited as if he’d hit the lottery.

I casually asked him: "Did you notice that this money wasn’t given by the market for free, but was earned by yourself."

Many people’s inability to make small profits isn’t due to lack of opportunity but lack of execution; it’s not that the market is hard to trade, but that they tend to panic easily. The more you want to seize every opportunity, the harder it is to hold onto real profits; the more you want to get rich quickly, the easier you get pushed out.

Over these years, I’ve seen too many people go from confusion to clarity, from reckless trading to stability. Making money is definitely satisfying, but what’s more interesting is seeing everyone gradually find their rhythm, no longer being led by emotions.

As long as you can treat each trade like he did—as a form of training—profits will eventually follow.

Today’s trade is just the beginning.