Watching the market for one second can blow your mind. This is probably the most common mistake made in contract trading.

I know an older brother, 38 years old, working in delivery, named Lao Chen. When he first started trading contracts, he lost over 40,000 yuan in just four days, trembling so much that he couldn’t steady his mouse. He was very honest about it: "When it drops, I panic; when it rises, I get scared," completely driven by emotion.

Later, I shared with him a set of my self-developed "Three-Step Mindset for Trading"—nothing fancy, just a simple change in trading habits. In less than half a year, he went from a 7,000 yuan capital to over 80,000. This isn’t just hype; it’s a real story.

**First Pitfall: Going All-In to Reverse Losses**

Lao Chen’s favorite thing to do was to go "All-in" after a loss, trying to turn things around quickly. But what happened? He always got wiped out even faster. I told him to split his capital into 6 parts, using at most one part per trade, no more than 17%.

What’s the benefit of this? If the first trade loses 900 yuan, he can still sleep peacefully; if the second earns 700 yuan, he won’t get overly excited. Gradually, he found his rhythm. That’s true "offense and defense"—you always have ammunition.

**Second Pitfall: The Illusion of Waiting for the Bottom with Empty Positions**

Lao Chen had a big problem: he liked to clear all his positions, waiting for the "absolute bottom." As a result, when the bull market started, it surged 28%, and he only realized he had missed out too late.

I changed his approach: maintain about 25% of his positions long-term, so he can feel the market’s breathing. Now, when he sees signals like a golden cross on the BTC hourly chart, he tests with 8%. This way, he avoids missing the move and doesn’t get wiped out by heavy positions. This is called "being alive means having opportunities."

**Third Pitfall: Heavy Positions, Can't Sleep**

This is the most practical trick. I taught Lao Chen a simple but effective method: when you lie down at night, if a sudden market move wakes you up, it means your position is too heavy.

Now he keeps his positions between 45% and 55%. A 9% drop hurts, but he won’t hit "close all"; an 18% rise feels great, but he won’t think about quitting. Watching 15-minute fluctuations, his mind remains calm. This is the "comfort zone."

**True Clear-headed Offense**

Some say this is lying flat? Quite the opposite. This is the clearest form of offense—taking your mind out of the "I must recover losses" vicious cycle and shifting to "how to win the next trade."

Later, Lao Chen would review his trades, only remembering "why this trade was right," and no longer obsessing over "why that one lost." As a result, his strategy became more accurate. Last month, he used half his capital with a trailing stop-loss and doubled his account from 48,000 to 97,000.

The market didn’t change, the coins didn’t change, only his mindset did. From a nervous retail trader, he became a true "gold player."

So I want to tell everyone: don’t treat trading as a life-and-death fight with the market, but as a ranking competition. As your rank improves, your capital naturally becomes your reward.