At 3 a.m., a brother from Yunnan called me on voice chat, voice a little hoarse: "Bro, I started with 70,000 U in capital, but now only 4,300 remains. Watching the K-line, my hands are trembling."

I didn't discuss technical analysis with him. I just said straightforwardly: what you lack is the skill to read the market, what you need is the discipline to stick with it. To survive in this market, you first need to set your emotions aside.

He paused for a few seconds: "How do I do that?"

My plan for him was very simple—divide the 4,300 U into three parts:

**Part One: 1,500 U for intraday trading.** Make only one trade per day, choose the most stable opportunity, take a 3% profit and exit immediately, no greed.

**Part Two: 1,500 U for small swings.** Place orders on mainstream coins, wait for a clear trend before acting.

**Part Three: The remaining 1,300 U frozen in a cold wallet.** No matter who advises, don’t move it.

"Splitting this money into three parts?" he didn’t quite understand.

"If your account blows up, you lose everything. First learn to survive," I paused briefly and added, "Delete all your market apps from your phone. Only allow yourself to check the market twice a day."

Why? Because most of the market time is spent oscillating without pattern. The more frequently you watch, the more likely you are to be fooled by noise. During sideways phases, pretend they don’t exist at all. Only when a real trend forms should you take action.

But the most critical step, I emphasized specifically:

**Before each trade, write down three bottom lines on paper—**

Cut losses at 2%, immediately stop loss—no delay.

Take profits at 4%, reduce your position directly, lock in profits.

Prohibit adding to positions, avoid stubborn holding, don’t let emotions control you.

After writing these down, place the paper beside your trading station. Every time you get itchy to trade, look at the note first.

Three months passed. He told me his account had grown back to 45,000 U. The entire process had zero blowups.

Later, he said something that left a deep impression on me during our chat: "The money is indeed back, but the most valuable takeaway isn’t that at all."

"What is it?"

"Finally, I wasn't killed by my own emotions. Now I feel like a machine executing programs—rules appear, I execute; feelings are not involved."

This sentence woke me up.

The crypto market offers opportunities every day, never lacking. But opportunities only come to those who can still survive until tomorrow. "Surviving" sounds simple, but it’s actually supported by three things:

**Position management for survival**—this is the line of defense. Without it, one mistake and it's game over.

**Trading plan to lock your hands**—this is the framework that helps pull you back when impulses hit.

**Written rules to govern your mind**—this is your weapon, fighting your deadliest enemy: yourself.

If you're still suffering losses, stop delving solely into technical analysis. Ask yourself a simple question—

Have you truly written down your trading discipline?

Discipline may not sound as sexy, but it gives you the chance to see the next opportunity when it arrives.