"Bro, can you lend me 5,000 first? This time, I can really break even!" When I said this in 2017, I was tucked away in the innermost corner of an internet cafe, with only enough money in my pocket to buy a pack of instant noodles. That 20,000 yuan startup capital? It had long vanished amid repeated margin call alarms. If someone had told me that six years later I could turn things around using the lessons learned through tears, I wouldn't have believed it.

No more nonsense, let's get straight to the point. These are the practical experiences I’ve summarized after crawling out of the pit, for friends still searching for direction: beginners should not always focus on catching explosive gains. First, protect yourself, then you’ll have the qualification to talk about making money.

**Don’t use fancy tricks in trading, the simpler the better**

I’ve seen too many newcomers get lost right after entering: staring at 15-minute K-line charts in a panic, listening to one "teacher" recommend an indicator today, then getting brainwashed by a "big shot" tomorrow, ending up unable to understand the market’s ups and downs. The reason I can stand here today is because I practice "subtraction."

Now I only look at the long-term trends of two mainstream coins—4-hour charts and daily charts. These are like weather forecasts, much more reliable than those short-term charts that change face every minute. The market has only three faces, corresponding to three strategies:

When the trend is upward, just go long honestly—don’t guess whether it will suddenly plunge; when it’s clearly downward, follow with short positions—don’t get impulsive and try to "bottom fish" for cheap deals and end up as the big fool; if the market is sideways and you’re unsure, just close the trading app and do whatever you need to do. Forcing trades in a choppy market is basically like catching a knife with your hand.

To be honest: this market never lacks opportunities; what’s missing is people who can hold back and wait for the right moment.

**Don’t make entry and exit points so precise**

You don’t need to calculate to the eighth or tenth decimal place. Focus on three key levels: previous highs and lows (the market has memory, these levels are likely to react).