A friend in Hangzhou called last night, her voice trembling—she had a 10,000 USDT full position with 10x leverage on BAS, but the market pulled back 6%, and her account was wiped out completely.

I looked through her trading records. Five different coins, all heavily concentrated. She thought that a full position could withstand market fluctuations, but in reality, that’s the fastest way to get liquidated.

The blame for liquidation really shouldn’t be placed on leverage. The problem lies in the position size.

Let’s take a 1,000 USDT account as an example. If you use 900 USDT to open a 10x long position on MKR, a 5% adverse move is enough to wipe out the account. On the other hand, with the same 10x leverage, investing only 100 USDT in ZEC would require a 50% drop to be liquidated. That’s the difference.

My friend put almost her entire net worth into this. A market pullback is just the last straw that breaks the camel’s back.

I’ve been operating with full positions for half a year, never got liquidated, and even doubled my capital. I rely on three iron rules.

**First: Never risk more than 20% of total funds in a single trade.** For a 10,000 USDT account, never invest more than 2,000 USDT in one trade. Even if you’re wrong and cut 10 points, you only lose 200 USDT, which won’t cause serious damage.

**Second: Limit single-loss to 3%.** Use 2,000 USDT with 10x leverage, set a 1.5% stop-loss, and cut at a 300 USDT loss—exactly 3% of the total position. Even after five consecutive losses, the principal remains at 8,500 USDT, allowing you to wait for the next market move.

**Third: Don’t trade sideways, don’t chase the market.** Only trade breakouts; don’t move on volatile oscillations, no matter how tempting. After opening a position, don’t move the stop-loss or add to the position during a rally. This helps avoid emotional trading decisions.

There’s a trader who often gets liquidated, but by following these three rules, he grew his account from 5,000 USDT to 8,000 USDT in three months. He said he used to think full positions were gambling with his life, but now he understands it’s about surviving longer.

In crypto trading, it’s never about who makes the most money fastest. It’s about who can survive the longest. Think less about predicting the market direction, and more about managing your positions well. Slow is actually fast.

The market is always there; as long as you protect your principal, you can seize every opportunity.