Remember the winter of 2017, I closed my small restaurant that I had been running for years, just when I couldn't even pay my staff's wages. That’s when I realized that the business of eating might seem simple, but in reality, it’s deeply complex. With only 40,000 yuan left in hand, I stayed in front of my computer for three days and nights, staring at the candlestick charts, my heart pounding wildly. In the end, I forced myself to invest everything into Bitcoin—back then, not many people dared to touch it, and I ended up buying three coins at the right price.

The following two years could be called "extreme schooling." By the end of 2017, during the most intense bull market, my account balance skyrocketed to 500,000 yuan. In a moment of impulsiveness, I bought a necklace I had been watching for over half a year, and wearing it out made me feel incredibly proud—I truly thought I had uncovered some secret to wealth. But in 2018, after a sharp crash, my account plummeted to 120,000 yuan, as if falling freely from a height. That necklace around my neck became a heavy reminder—what’s on paper is just a number; poke it, and it’s just a hole.

The real turning point came in 2021. I abandoned the strategy of chasing quick gains and losses, and started exploring crypto asset staking and NFTs. This work is completely different from trading coins; it’s more like planting trees—requiring patience, careful tending, and waiting for growth. It doesn’t sound as exciting, but it’s more stable. This steadiness helped my account gradually grow to 2 million over three years.

Having been in this circle for nine years, I’ve seen too many stories of overnight riches and overnight losses. Today, I want to share the pitfalls I’ve stepped into and the hard truths I’ve summarized. If beginners can remember these, they can avoid 90% of unnecessary detours. The most important rule: capital preservation always comes first; profits are secondary.