Stay alive, these two words weigh heavier than anything else.

I still remember 2019, when I entered the crypto world with five thousand yuan. At that time, I didn't even understand the difference between Bitcoin and Ethereum, my mind was full of delusions of hundredfold returns in a year. The result was following the trend of projects claiming "thousandfold potential," holding on stubbornly when a well-known coin suddenly plummeted, and ending up with only a small fraction of my initial tens of thousands of yuan.

Five years have passed, and most of the people who entered the market with me have long disappeared without a trace. Today, I want to say, it's not about some secret to making money—those don't exist. I just want to share the survival experiences earned with real money.

**First Rule: Only invest disposable funds, the kind "not feeling bad even if you lose"**

With a monthly salary of 8,000, never invest more than 800 each month. This is a strict rule I set for myself. I never take out loans, never dip into living expenses, let alone borrow money to trade.

Why be so strict? The volatility in the crypto market can drive people crazy. If you're using "life-saving money," a 10% drop in your account makes your hands tremble—how can you make rational decisions? Once your mindset collapses, all technical skills and analysis are useless. Keeping the principal safe is easy to say, but when faced with it, you realize—it's the first prerequisite for survival.

**Second Rule: Stop-loss is not optional, it's a survival question**

The most expensive tuition fee I paid was for stubbornly holding on. I had set a 5% stop-loss, but when the price really dropped, I couldn't bear to cut, watching my assets shrink to less than 10%.

Now, the rules have changed: if the short-term price breaks below the 5-day moving average, I sell; if the medium-term breaks below the 20-day moving average, I exit immediately. This isn't about technical details, it's about discipline. Stop-loss is like wearing a seatbelt while driving—annoying most of the time, but it can save your life in an accident. Those who say "stop-loss is just losses" often haven't truly experienced despair during a big crash.

**Third Rule: Position management is both science and art**

Divide your funds into several parts: one for core holdings, the safest; another for swing trading, allowing for stop-loss; and a third for testing new projects. Never let a single asset exceed 30% of your total funds, and never put all your chips into one wave of the market.

Many people lose big not because they see the wrong direction, but because they go all-in. Even the best project can be wiped out by a black swan event. Diversifying risk sounds cliché, but it is the most straightforward survival philosophy.

**Fourth Rule: Don't leverage unless you want to exit quickly**

This is the simplest rule and the easiest to overlook. Leverage is like a drug—try a little at first, then become addicted, and finally, one margin call can wipe you out. I've seen too many people with only 50,000 yuan in their account borrow five times that amount to gamble, and a single correction ends their game.

The crypto market can wait for you. Using your principal slowly, achieving threefold returns in a year is already top performance—why take such huge risks?

Looking back now, those who survive the longest are not because they make the most money on single trades, but because they never fight unwinnable battles. Every decision asks: can I withstand the worst-case scenario? If the answer is no, then don't do it.

There are countless stories in the crypto world, but the ones who live are always a minority.