Recently, I've seen some operations by newbie friends that really make me sweat. Buying based on gut feeling, holding onto losses and refusing to cut, and rushing to sell at the slightest profit—if you keep playing like this, sooner or later the market will teach you a hard lesson.

When trading contracts or doing any trading, it's okay to have impulses, but don't treat your account like a disposable chip. To survive long-term in this market, it's not about getting lucky once or twice, but about thinking carefully before every trade: How much loss can I afford to take?

Does risk management sound boring? It's really just setting a safety valve for yourself.

For example, let's say you have 50,000 USDT on hand and a monthly salary of 10,000 RMB. Then your monthly trading loss should ideally be controlled within 2,000—less than 20% of your monthly income, and 4% of your total funds. This way, even if you make several wrong calls in a row, your account won't take a fatal hit and you can keep playing.

Experienced traders usually keep the risk per trade below 2%. If their monthly cumulative loss exceeds 10%, they pause trading. They take a few days to cool down and review what went wrong, instead of stubbornly pushing on in a hotheaded way.

There's another point that's easy to overlook—psychological tolerance. No matter how perfect your technical indicators are, people are emotional. If you've set a 2,000 stop-loss but you're staying up all night watching the market and can't sleep, that means this limit is already beyond your psychological comfort zone. Don't force it—adjust it down to a level you can truly accept.

Trading isn't gambling with your life—it's a game of probabilities. The truly skilled aren't the ones who go all in and win big once, but those who have the ability to keep sitting at the table.