Lost 2 Billion Overnight? Two "Deadly Traps" in Crypto Almost Made Me Leave the Market

03:00 AM. My eyes bloodshot staring at the screen, my hands shaking so much that I pressed the sell button off target. Message from the exchange: “Trading pair XXX will be delisted. Please exit your position before 18:00.” Half a year holding. So many expectations. Yet when I opened the chart, the market depth was empty like a desert—no buyers, no liquidity. From 1.2U dropping to 0.03U, my capital of over 20,000U ended up being worth only a few hundred yuan, not even enough to pay rent. That was the biggest slap in my 5 years of “grinding” in this market. And today, I want to say one thing straight: In crypto, there are 2 types of tokens you must absolutely never touch—no matter how cheap, no matter the FOMO, no matter how much hype they get. Because touching them = handing your money over to the project. ⚰️ Trap 1: “Zombie Coins” – Seem Cheap but Are Actually Money Graves Don’t be fooled by slogans like: “Trillion-dollar AI,” “Web3 ecosystem,” “Metaverse of the future”… These tokens look grand, but inside they’re as empty as a display gift box. They exist only to wait for people to provide liquidity for the project to exit gracefully. I’ve fallen for one like that, and looking back now, the 3 death signals are as clear as day:

1. Code No Longer Updated = The Project Is Clinically Dead A truly active project must have constant updates, bug fixes, and upgrades. But when I checked the code repository: Last commit: March 2022Issues were all questions like: “Admin, is the project still active?”Official response? Not a word. Because they cashed out long ago. As for the community? Comforting themselves with hope.
2. Community Is Empty = No One Left to Sell To A chat group of over 5,000 people: 90% silent10% are bots posting nonsenseAdmins copy-paste one line of “good news coming soon” every month Below are dozens of comments: “Refund!” – “Scam!” – “Team has left” I realized one thing: No new people joining = no liquidity = no exit door.
3. Exchange Preparing to Delist = Official Death Sentence If you get a “Delisting” notice, my condolences: 90% chance: you can’t get out anymore. As soon as the news hits: Sell orders pile upNo buyersPrice drops like a stone down a well Your token is now just an “untradeable digital asset,” or to put it bluntly… trash. My 20,000U Lesson: In crypto, there’s no such thing as “down 90% is the bottom.” The bottom for zombie coins can be down 99.9%—and still have room to fall. You think you’re “buying cheap,” but in reality, you’re “buying a coffin.” 💸 Trap 2: “Money Printing Coins” – Where the Project Uses You as Their Personal ATM If zombie coins are tokens with no one running them anymore, then money printing coins are tokens still running… but running to bleed you dry. Features: Team holds 70–95% of tokensHeavy unlock scheduleEvery unlock = dumpEvery dump = death Sound familiar? Because 80% of altcoins are like this. My Friend’s Story – A 50,000 Dollar Lesson He chased a “storage sector” coin, lured by all the “trillion-dollar future” keywords. His buying price: 150U After each unlock: 120U80U40U18U8U… He finally cut his loss at 8U, cried like he lost his wedding money. He said: “This isn’t investing. This is being turned into the project’s ATM.” Classic Crashes in the Industry Coin A: $20 → $0.2 after fund unlockCoin B: $30 → $0.05$Coin C: Listed on exchange, day 1 pump, day 2 halved, day 3 down by 10x You call those “opportunities.” The project calls them: “exit windows.” 🛡️ My 5 Years in the Game: These Are the 3 Rules to Avoid Getting EATEN ALIVE
4. Don’t Touch “Small Change Tokens” Token price: Below 0.1UMarketcap outside Top 1000Low trading volume → 99% are trash. Crypto doesn’t follow the logic of “cheap means opportunity.” In reality, it’s the opposite: cheap = dead.
5. Before Buying Any Coin—Check 3 Vital Signs (1) Is the code updated? No commits for 3–6 months = clinically dead sign. (2) Is the community real? If most interaction is from bots, don’t dream of getting out. (3) What’s the unlock schedule? Unlocking more than building → run away immediately. If even 1 point fails → PASS right away.
6. Control Your Emotions, Don’t Lie to Yourself 99% of dead coins won’t recover. 99% of inflationary coins will keep dropping. Before you try to “catch the bottom,” ask yourself: “If it drops another 50% tomorrow, can I take it?” If the answer is “No” → DON’T BUY. Conclusion: To Make Money, First You Must SURVIVE I went from almost losing everything to now being able to live off crypto trading, not because of luck—but because I avoided more deaths than others. Crypto always has opportunities. But those opportunities are only for people who stay alive in the market. To survive, stay far away from these 2 types of coins.