Staring at the K-line at 3 a.m., my heart pounding in my chest, the feeling of being trapped by the market around my neck is all too real. I will never forget that ZEC order; my assets nearly wiped out overnight. After crawling out of that pit, I realized: what saves you isn’t some magical indicator, but a few ironclad rules hammered out with blood and sweat.

**Rule 1: Only trade where you are confident**

I deleted all financial news alerts on my phone. Afraid of missing out? Forget it, there are plenty of opportunities, and your capital doesn’t have a second chance. Now I only operate at key levels marked in advance; at other times, no matter how grand the market moves, it has nothing to do with me. Focusing on what I can control is much more realistic than chasing every trend.

**Rule 2: Think through the worst-case scenario before opening a position**

Even major coins like BTC can cause you to blow up if you don’t calculate how much you could lose. The first step in every trade isn’t to fantasize about profits, but to set a firm loss limit. Position management is like wearing body armor—you need it to survive the bear market and wait for the next rally.

**Rule 3: Layered profit-taking**

When the market starts moving, increase your position size, but at obvious resistance levels or round numbers, I take profits in batches. The benefit is that you catch the trend while always having chips to respond to sudden pullbacks. Betting everything on one direction is gambling, not trading.

**Rule 4: Wait decisively without signals**

Emotions are the poison of trading. I set clear entry conditions—if they aren’t met, I stay put. No matter how noisy the market, your rules must be as clear as a scale.

These four seemingly simple rules transformed me from a gambler driven by emotion into someone who executes methodically. Profits became a reproducible result instead of mere luck. More importantly, I’m no longer afraid of volatility because everything is part of the plan.

Discipline may not make quick money, but it keeps you at the table.