Seven years ago, I made a decision that still makes me break out in a cold sweat when I think about it—I took the 80,000 yuan I’d saved to buy a house and went all-in on Bitcoin at $450.

I still remember the look on my parents’ faces at the time. But back then, there was only one thought in my mind: when an opportunity comes, you have to seize it.

A little over a year later, in a rented apartment in Chiang Mai, a string of numbers suddenly popped up on my phone screen—2.3 million. I stared at it for a long time, really thinking I’d lucked out big time.

Then the bear market hit, fiercer than a tropical storm. My account balance got pricked like a balloon, dropping all the way from 2.3 million to 220,000. When I was sitting in my room calculating the rent for a lease extension, with cicadas screeching deafeningly outside, I finally understood what it feels like to fall from great heights.

After getting slapped in the face by the market enough times, I gradually summed up a few survival rules:

First, only touch things you actually understand. Early on, I heard people say virtual land could double, so I jumped in without even figuring out how it worked, and lost 220,000 in a week. Later I realized you simply can’t make money that’s outside your range of understanding.

Second, diversify your positions. Now I keep half in Bitcoin and Ethereum, 30% in cross-platform arbitrage, and the remaining 20% as an emergency reserve. Last year, when ETH dropped to 1,200, it was this reserve that let me buy the dip and not miss the rebound.

Third, never touch leverage. One time I went all-in on futures and got wiped out instantly. After waking up, I just turned off the futures function on the exchange. It’s not a return amplifier—it’s a principal shredder.

Fourth, always judge information for yourself. Those signal groups and influencer coin recommendations are basically traps. I only look at on-chain data and project whitepapers. Before FTX collapsed, I checked their reserves and noticed something was off. I moved my assets out early and dodged that bullet.

Now I don’t chase parabolic pumps anymore—I just aim for a steady 20% annual return. This year I’m at 18% so far. In this market, just surviving to today is more important than anything else.