Speaking of cryptocurrency trading, my experiences over the past two months have been quite surreal.

Initially, I was messing around with airdrops, but it was mostly a fruitless effort—either the threshold was too high, or I was too slow and got snatched away. After several days of trying with no gains, I almost lost my patience. Later, on a friend's advice, I gave up and used my only 400U to buy a relatively new coin.

After purchasing, I didn’t stare at the K-line like before; instead, I calmly set two ironclad rules for myself: exit immediately when profit reaches 25%, and cut losses and exit if it drops below 10%. The market didn’t disappoint, and in just a few days, it rose by 100U, hitting my take-profit point. I decisively clicked to sell.

Although this trade didn’t earn much, it taught me a valuable lesson—**taking profits and cutting losses are not optional but essential for survival**. Many retail traders who keep losing money don’t have a proper trading plan. They get greedy when prices rise and chase highs, soften when prices fall and try to bottom fish, ending up being played around by market volatility. When they profit, they want to double it; when they lose, they’re reluctant to cut. How can they make money with such mindset?

So, the most important thing is to be strict with yourself—sell when it’s time, cut losses when needed, and don’t fight the market. That 100U profit isn’t much, but the trading discipline it taught me is priceless.