Last month, a friend came to me to vent—he had lost almost all his principal trading crypto, down to just 3,200 USDT.

At the beginning of December, the market kept surging (up 3.77% on the 3rd, another 1.84% on the 4th), and he couldn’t sit still anymore. He wanted to go all-in on BTC with his remaining funds.

I advised him to stay calm and helped him split his funds into three parts. Now his account has recovered to 20,000 USDT.

The first part, 1,000 USDT, is for swing trading. He focuses on highly volatile coins like ETH, trades no more than twice a day, and exits immediately if the stop-loss is hit. Last week, he made enough just from this to cover his rent.

The second part, 1,200 USDT, is for trend following. He waits for a clear upward pattern on the weekly chart before entering—like in October when BTC broke above 110,000, he followed SXP and it soared 30%.

The key is that 1,000 USDT set aside as “survival money.” Last week, he nearly got liquidated, but managed to add margin in time to protect his position, and when the market rebounded, he didn’t miss out.

Don’t forget, even though BTC is now steady above 100,000, there was a day in November when it plunged 4.6% in a single day. Liquidation means getting wiped out—only by keeping your principal do you have a chance to bounce back.

Before entering the market, set your rules: automatically stop-loss and close if you lose 5%; once you make 10%, move your stop-loss up to your entry price.

When trading volume broke 8 billion on December 4th, I told him to enter. He followed the rules, took half the profit off the table for safety, and let the rest ride with the market without panic.

In this space, it’s never about who runs the fastest—it’s about who survives the longest.