Early morning on the rooftop, cool buns mixed with the smell of smoke—2017 me, the phone screen flickering with liquidation alerts and a debt of 300,000.

Yesterday afternoon, my ETH account showed a single-day unrealized profit of 32W. Outside the window, the line at the milk tea shop buzzed, but I stared at the account figures for half a minute. Eight years to today, from starting with 10 USDT to managing over 5,000, few people understand the true taste behind it. It’s not about insider information, nor about catching a crazy bull market wave; it’s about the dumb effort of smashing through volume data and filling up mistake notebooks.

**Volume is the market’s true "heartbeat"**

There are too many people chasing red and green candles, buying high and selling low, but only volume can tell you what the funds are really doing. I’ve seen coins with no volume suddenly surge, rising 40% in a day with only half the average monthly trading volume, only to be cut in half the next day—like holding your breath for a sprint, unable to last more than three minutes. Conversely, when prices slowly decline but trading volume secretly increases? Don’t rush to cut losses; it’s likely big funds quietly accumulating at the bottom. During the ETH dip to 2600 in March this year, it was a sustained increase in volume. I waited two weeks before riding the full rebound.

Before daily review, my habit is simple: compare the price and volume curves. If the fluctuation exceeds 10% but volume completely disconnects, I mark it as a "fake move." This trick isn’t some advanced skill; it’s just repetition until it becomes muscle memory.

**Flash crashes are "stabbing with a knife," not "sending red envelopes"**

The dumbest thing beginners love to do is buy the dip during a flash crash, only to get stuck halfway up the mountain. The rebound after a flash crash isn’t saving you; it’s tricking you into stepping on the foot. During the FTX collapse, some DeFi tokens appeared to rebound strongly after crashing, leading many to follow and buy in, only to face another round of sharp declines.