Open a major exchange's trading floor, and you'll always see wave after wave of "get rich quick legends" and "liquidation blood tears." After years of navigating the crypto world, I want to honestly share some heartfelt words from a seasoned veteran—this market, frankly, has no shortcuts. The only thing that truly keeps you afloat is not luck.

In the beginning, I made the same mistakes as many others. Listening to "rumors" and going all-in overnight on altcoins, watching K-line surges and impulsively using 5x leverage, what happened? Either I got caught in air coins with project teams running away, or I was liquidated in a sudden correction. The worst time, I watched my savings evaporate overnight, staring at a zeroed-out account all night. That’s when I truly understood that the saying "a day in crypto is like ten years in the real world" is not an exaggeration, but a stark risk warning.

After that blow, I decided to calm my mind. The pitfalls I’ve stepped into and the strategies I’ve explored over the years, I want to share openly today:

**First line of defense: Use spare funds, not blood money**
My current strategy is quite rigid—I first reserve 12 months of emergency living expenses in stable assets, and the rest of the money is divided into 12 parts for gradual dollar-cost averaging. No matter how crazy the market gets or how many people advise me to borrow money and leverage, I refuse outright. This is not conservatism, but clarity.

**Second line of defense: Stay away from "mythical promises"**
"10x annualized return," "sure to rise 1000%"—when I hear these, my reaction now is to block immediately. These projects are almost certainly scams. My portfolio is simple and straightforward: 80% in mainstream coins like Bitcoin and Ethereum, and 20% in projects with real use cases and complete whitepapers. Coins without whitepapers or team disclosures? I don’t even touch them.

**Third line of defense: Discipline beats prediction**
Instead of wasting energy guessing bottoms and tops, it’s better to set specific take-profit and stop-loss levels in advance. When the time comes, execute them—no regrets even if the market continues to rise. During bear markets, don’t blindly buy the dip; during bull markets, don’t greedily chase highs. Simple, right? It is. But very few people stick to such simple rules.

Looking back now, I’ve long given up on the obsession with overnight riches. Over these years, I’ve achieved an average annual return of 25% to 35% through steady and disciplined investing. Think about it—this is a pretty good figure in any investment field.

The crypto market, at its core, is like a form of cultivation. Those red and green candlesticks are the market’s repeated tests of you. The only two things that can truly help you survive bull and bear cycles are—deep understanding and strict discipline.

What’s the deepest pit you’ve fallen into in this market? Or do you have any exclusive survival tips? Feel free to share in the comments, so we can summarize these lessons together.