Three months ago, a buddy of mine came to me, with only $180 left in his account. After three consecutive liquidations, he was almost at his breaking point. Every night he’d stay up staring at the charts, insomnia setting in, his heart racing—when XRP started to rise, he’d sweep in; when SOL was about to explode, he’d go all in. Every time, he’d hit the top just right, only to see the price drop and hurriedly cut his losses.

I asked him: "Are you trying to gamble your last shot at a turnaround, or do you genuinely want to climb out of this hole?"

He said: "I want to stay alive."

So, let’s get started.

We set three rules, and these three must be engraved in your mind:

**First: Fire in three shots**

Seeing the right direction doesn’t mean you should throw everything in. Even when the position looks good, you should still split your entries into three batches, with a maximum of one-third of your total position each time. This habit saved him several times—later, during three false breakouts, he only took small losses and didn’t get wiped out.

**Second: Wait for the signal before rushing in**

Chasing highs is the most money-burning move in trading. Especially with mainstream coins like ETH and BNB, you must wait. The real good opportunities look like this: the price repeatedly tests support levels, consolidates for several days, then suddenly breaks out with a large bullish candle on high volume—that’s when you should pull the trigger. Not long ago, BNB hovered at the bottom for two days, and on the third morning, a bullish candle shot up. The order we entered then yielded quite a bit of profit later.

**Third: Cut losses quickly, secure steady gains**

Before entering each trade, set your stop-loss firmly. Once it hits, there’s no discussion—cut it immediately. What about profits? Don’t be greedy. Take some off the table in batches as a safety cushion, and let the rest run. But never let a winning trade turn into a loss.

He was initially very unaccustomed to this, constantly complaining, "It’s too slow."