An account that blows up from 100,000 USDT to 5,000 USDT shares a common misconception—thinking they are trading when in fact they are just feeding the market headshots.

Last year, a friend approached me, sounding very frustrated: "Bro, I only have 5,000 USDT left in my account." I looked at his trading history and was silent for three seconds. Dozens of trades per day, more fees eaten than profits made; hesitant to take profits during an upward trend, fantasizing about doubling again; holding on through dips, waiting for a miracle; finally going all-in on the last wave of market movement, only to get liquidated before even seeing the bottom.

I only asked him one question: Are you trading, or are you gambling with your life?

His story might also be your story.

**Three Deadly Traps for Newcomers**

High-frequency random scanning—staring at 1-minute candles until dizzy, self-hypnotized into a day trader god, but really just a fee-paying hero for the exchange. Faith-based holding—shouting "the bull market is returning quickly," but your account hits zero first. FOMO all-in—seeing a hundredfold altcoin and going all-in, only to wake up to a single-digit account.

During that time, he was watching the charts at 3 a.m., and eventually, overwhelmed, asked me: "Bro, did the market just screw me?" I told him: It’s not the market screwing you, it’s you handing over the knife yourself.

**Three Moves for a Comeback**

I suggested three changes.

The first move is sniper-style trading. Remove all small-timeframe charts, focus only on breakouts over 4 hours. Limit yourself to at most 3 trades per day, and when feeling restless, leave the keyboard. The benefit of this is filtering out 99% of noise trades, waiting only for real big opportunities.

The second move is “win big, cut losses early.” The initial position should not exceed 10% of your account, which was $500 at the time. If it rises 20%, sell half to lock in profits, and trail the rest with a moving stop-loss. If losses reach 5%, cut immediately—don’t give yourself the illusion of luck. This is the core of risk management—let the winning trades run, and get out of losing trades early.

The third move is discipline first. After two consecutive stop-losses, shut down immediately and stop trading. If emotions run high, pause and reflect. Review daily, write down the reasons for losses, and understand how you lost.

A turnaround never depends on a single all-in, but on the combination of calmness, discipline, and repetitive execution.

Later, he told me: "Bro, no one ever taught me these things before." I replied: It’s not that no one taught you, it’s that you refused to admit you were gambling. The line between trading and gambling is here—gambling relies on intuition and luck, trading relies on rules and execution.

**Final words**

99% of those who get liquidated die from the same phrase: "Just hold on a bit longer, it’ll come back..." That self-deception sends accounts straight to hell.

Now, open your trading records and ask yourself an honest question: Are you trading or just feeding headshots? The answer lies in every single trade you make.