I am an experienced investor who entered the market in 2018. I have gone through bear markets with stop-losses, missed out on bull runs, and also made foolish decisions like blindly following the crowd—once losing half a year's salary overnight due to a piece of "inside information."

The hardest time was when I had only 3,000 yuan left in my account, almost unable to pay rent.

But after 8 years of climbing, falling, and fighting in this market, I have developed a trading system that is so dull it’s almost moldy—tested repeatedly—and now I achieve a relatively stable monthly income of over ten thousand.

Below are four ironclad rules. They may not sound glamorous, but each one is a lesson I paid hundreds of thousands of yuan in tuition to learn. If you are also a working person and want to hold onto your spare money longer in this market, I suggest you write these down and engrain them in your mind.

**Rule 1: Only choose strong coins, don’t watch the falling ones**

I’ve seen too many people obsessed with "bottom-fishing"—specifically looking for coins that have dropped 90%. The result is they keep losing more and more, eventually losing all their money.

My logic is completely opposite: only pick assets that have had inflows of funds and outperformed the market in the past 7 days.

For example, when Bitcoin is sideways, if a certain coin can see trading volume suddenly increase for three consecutive days while its price is still rising, it indicates that big funds are really building a position.

The strict stop-loss rule is simple: if the price retraces for more than 3 days in a row, sell immediately—don’t leave any room for hesitation.

Never be blinded by the word "cheap"—in a downtrend, cheap coins are often being dumped by big players, and you are the one holding the bag. Market laws are cruel: the strong get stronger, while weak coins are like drowning people waving for help—you think you can pull them out, but in the end, you get dragged down too.

**Rule 2: Use the monthly chart to find the big trend; a MACD golden cross is a signal**

Short-term crypto markets are full of noise—today a big influencer promotes a coin, tomorrow a different story. But the monthly chart is different; it can filter out most of the noise.

My habit is to look for a MACD golden cross on the monthly chart. Once a golden cross forms, it indicates that the medium-term trend has started. At this point, timing the short-term becomes much more successful.

Conversely, if the MACD on the monthly chart is still in a death cross, I won’t buy even if the price rises for a day or two—because the big trend hasn’t turned yet. Any short-term rise in that case is just a trap.