I once saw a trader lose 50 million in 3 days, but then take a year to build a net worth of 1 billion. He told me a sentence that still leaves a deep impression: the secret to making money with perpetual contracts isn't in the K-line charts, but in those bloody lessons.

Do you remember the crash in 2023? Ethereum was halved in one day, and the contract market experienced wave after wave of liquidations. But those who truly understood trading, instead of panicking, sensed opportunities when everyone was screaming. Today, I want to share that, rather than techniques, it's a set of underlying logic for surviving in the crypto world.

**Why perpetual contracts can make so much money, and also lose so much**

10x leverage sounds tempting: a 1% price move means your account moves 10%. But there's a mathematical truth— even with a win rate of up to 55% and a profit-loss ratio of 1.2, if your position gets out of control, a single mistake can wipe out all your previous gains.

My core idea is simple: perpetual contracts are fundamentally a probability game, not a casino. Those who consistently profit are doing two things:

First, replacing intuition with math. The profit formula is actually: Initial capital × (Average profit × win rate − Average loss × loss rate). Trading without numbers is just guessing blindly.

Second, replacing greed with discipline. Each stop-loss should not exceed 5% of total funds, profits should be over 5%, and win rate should be above 50%. These seemingly simple rules, 99% of people can't follow.

**How veterans manage positions**

1. Pyramid-style adding

Once the trend is confirmed, start with 30% of your funds for the first order. The price either retraces to a key support or breaks through resistance. Then add a second batch, about 20% of the position. Never go all-in at once.

For example, if Ethereum breaks the 3000 level and retraces to 2950 without breaking, adding 20% at this point is reasonable. But if it keeps falling, would you dare to add more? That’s a matter of mental discipline.

2. Account segmentation

Don’t bet everything on one asset. Core holdings (Bitcoin, Ethereum) should be 30%, opportunity trades 20%, and the remaining 50% should be reserved for real big opportunities. This way, even if one direction crashes, it won’t wipe you out.

**How to set stop-loss and take-profit**

Many people struggle with whether to set a stop-loss. The answer is yes, you must. But stop-loss isn’t about giving up; it’s about preserving the chance to continue.

The standard approach is to plan how much you can lose before entering. Suppose your account is 100,000, then set the maximum loss per trade at 5,000. If the price hits your stop-loss level, cut immediately—no hesitation, no waiting for a rebound.

Take-profit should also be set. Many people are reluctant to sell after profits, wanting to earn more, but end up getting knocked back to zero. A reliable method is to take profits in stages: when reaching 50% of your target, sell half to lock in gains; when hitting 100%, sell the rest.

**Psychological discipline is the biggest lesson**

The harshest part of perpetual contracts isn’t losing money itself, but the repeated mental torment. Watching your account numbers fluctuate, most people make mistakes.

One is fear. When the account drops 10%, doubts start to creep in, and they rush to close positions. But then the price rebounds, and they regret it bitterly.

Another is greed. After making some profit, they want to add more, thinking this time they’ll soar. Only to realize at liquidation that greed is the best amplifier of risk.

The only way to beat these two is: make a plan and execute it mechanically. Your emotions don’t matter; the numbers do.

**Real case example**

When the market surged from 20,000 to 40,000, 99% of contract traders didn’t dare to buy at the bottom. Instead, they entered around 35,000, and a small retracement wiped them out.

But those who actually made money? They built positions in stages according to the pyramid principle when the price was above 20,000. Although they didn’t catch the lowest point, they held steady through the entire rally and secured profits. The key is, they didn’t get liquidated and survived to see the next opportunity.

**Final words**

If you want to make consistent money with perpetual contracts, you have to accept a reality: most of the time, you won’t make big money. But you’ll survive longer than others. In the crypto world, longevity itself is a form of competitiveness. The trader who went from losing 50 million to building a 1 billion net worth told me this very sentence in the end.