Cryptocurrency exchange OKX recently published an interview with @0xRay518 , a 19-year-old legendary trader from Taiwan hailed as the "Crypto God of the Post-2005 Generation." The interview, titled "Conversation with Ray, a Post-2005 Trader: Giving Up College to Buy Trump, the Legendary 19-Year-Old's Net Worth of Hundreds of Millions," details his legendary journey from investing $3,000 of his New Year's money in shipping stocks at age 14, through margin calls, shifting to NFTs and airdrops, to finally achieving a leap in wealth during the 2024-2025 bull market with Trump and Hyperliquid.
@0xRay518 Quick Review of Trading Experience
- At age 14 (in 2020), he used $3,000 of his New Year's money to invest in shipping stocks, earning up to about $300,000, but later lost almost everything due to high leverage.
- 2021-2022: Shifted focus to NFTs and airdrops, earning my first real fortune through Arbitrum airdrops.
- In 2024-2025, I skipped the high school entrance exam midway through my senior year and instead invested $1 million in Trump cryptocurrency on the street, exiting with a 3-4x return.
- He spent a whole year lying low on Hyperliquid, constantly inflating his trading volume, and finally made a large investment, accumulating a net worth of over 100 million RMB.
OKX Interview Full Text
The original interview was shared by X user @Doll3heart_.
The story begins with a 3,000 yuan red envelope used to speculate on shipping stocks.
Ray's trading career began in his third year of high school, coinciding with the outbreak of the pandemic and a surge in global shipping prices. At 14, Ray used $3,000 of his New Year's money to enter the market. "Back then, everyone was researching shipping and freight stocks, and I followed the price quotes and industry news," Ray recalled. Undeterred by his youthful folly, he successfully earned approximately $300,000.
However, a novice's good fortune is often undone by risk. As market conditions worsened and leverage in futures trading increased, Ray experienced a significant drawdown, almost completely erasing his profits.
Although this million-dollar ordeal was painful, it made him realize the risks of leverage and taught him to manage psychological stress through exercise. After returning to school for a year or two to reflect, Ray was attracted by the popularity of NFTs online and transferred his remaining funds to the cryptocurrency market.
From speculating on on-chain NFTs to focusing on airdrops, Ray has always adhered to a low-cost strategy for accumulating capital. His first real fortune came from Arbitrum airdrops. At the time, he was studying while operating multiple accounts, leveraging a few thousand dollars in capital to generate tens of thousands of dollars in profits. This money became the core capital that enabled him to achieve great success later in life.
The trading story of 0xRay, the "million-dollar teenager": leaving the market during a college entrance exam to buy Trump tokens.
Ray's trading style is highly personal, and the most talked-about of his is his legendary experience of "buying Trump coins during the university entrance exam".
Abandoning the university entrance exam, rushing to fund Trump
"It was right around the time Trump announced his cryptocurrency, and I was taking a math exam," Ray described the scene. A friend was banging on the window outside the exam hall to signal him. Realizing it was a crucial moment, Ray resolutely decided to finish his exam early. He rushed out of the exam hall and bought $1 million worth of Trump tokens on the street at an average price of $6-7. He then sold all his holdings when the price increased 3-4 times. Ray emphasized, "I only traded the first wave of the price movement. Although many people were FOMO and thought it would go even higher, that's just my personality; I only profit from the most certain part."
Hyperliquid: An asymmetrical opportunity honed over a year
Ray stated that most of the money he earned during this period came from Hyperliquid. While most people ignored this on-chain contract exchange, Ray was attracted by its complex algorithmic mechanism. "People thought it wasn't new, but I was just stubborn."
He spent an entire year meticulously monitoring trading volume and buying and selling spot on the platform daily. When the market finally opened, Ray poured all his available funds into the purchase. As the token's price soared, his assets underwent a dramatic upward leap.
He said, "This is the kind of asymmetric opportunity I like; the greater the divergence, the more obvious the opportunity." He's willing to spend more time and invest more capital in these opportunities early on. After all, the greater the divergence, the greater the chance of acquiring shares at a lower price.
The Trading Mindset of the Young Crypto God: Ironclad Rules and Mindset
He revealed his key strategies for surviving in highly volatile markets.
Never touch the second phase of the market trend.
This is an ironclad rule he learned from countless losses. Whether in the secondary market or meme coins, he only participates in the "first phase" of an upward trend, where consensus is strongest and sentiment is highest. He says, "The second phase of the trend will see greater divergence, making it too difficult and easy to get trapped by chasing highs." Ray believes that avoiding the second phase of the trend is not only to lock in profits but also to protect the principal.
Acknowledge luck, embrace strength
"At first, luck accounted for 80%." He humbly stated that he was fortunate to avoid protocol failures and wallet hacking. However, as his capital grew, he began to actively give up small opportunities, reducing the proportion of luck to 30%, and relying more on the judgment of certain targets and risk control.
Low materialism and imposter syndrome
Despite his net worth of hundreds of millions, he lives a remarkably low-key life. He loves reading philosophy and art books to maintain emotional stability. He even frankly admits to having "imposter syndrome," often feeling that he is not as capable as he seems and fearing that he might mislead others.
In the crypto, traders often flaunt their wealth online. Despite his early fame, he says, "I used to like to show off too, but I later realized that ego is a major taboo in trading." Now, he prefers to be an ordinary student in the eyes of his classmates, viewing trading as a game to test his ideas.
How High School Students Can Start Trading: Begin with Fun
Ray offers three sound pieces of advice for his peers who want to get into the cryptocurrency field:
Mindset first: Don't think about getting rich quick from the start. Find it interesting and fun, participate more, try and fail more. Accumulating experience is more important than making money.
Starting with limited funds: When you have little capital, try low-cost opportunities such as airdrops and free mints. Although slower, they are low-risk and allow you to familiarize yourself with market operations.
Protect your principal: Be bold in betting on promising opportunities, but never use high leverage. When the market is unfavorable, it's better to do nothing than to preserve your principal.
When discussing the future, this 19-year-old displayed a maturity beyond his years. In the short term, he plans to complete his university studies to make up for the regret of taking a break from school. Regarding investments, given the changing dynamics of the cryptocurrency market, he has begun shifting some funds to the more stable US stock market.
"Wealth is just a secondary thing to me. Health, emotional stability, and being able to do what I love are the most important things," Ray said.
This trader, born after 2005, may have a legendary quality tinged with survivorship bias, but his reverence for the market, his insight into human nature, and his self-discipline are undoubtedly lessons every trader should ponder. Interestingly, although his family was unaware of Ray's trading background, they supported him taking a year off from school to pursue cryptocurrencies. He was often first in his class in middle school, but after getting involved in cryptocurrencies, he didn't focus on his high school studies. His teachers showed him more concern than blame, which taught him to take responsibility for his choices.
The interview was attacked within 24 hours of its release, and OKX urgently removed the article.
However, it's worth noting that while the interview initially garnered enthusiastic discussion, it quickly sparked a strong backlash on the OKX platform and in Chinese communities, with criticism rapidly overshadowing positive feedback. OKX has since removed the article, and the original content is no longer available online from the official source. The main reasons for the community criticism include:
- OKX's "flaunting wealth marketing" created a huge sense of disillusionment and discomfort among ordinary investors.
- It is believed that OKX should not promote such a case with such severe "survivorship bias" at the end of a bull market, as it may mislead novices.
Vida, founder of Formula News, responded with a lengthy post.
Amid the media storm, Formula News founder Vida published a lengthy post on the X platform, admitting that he was also jealous of Ray's achievements, but emphasizing that he would channel that jealousy into motivation rather than resorting to sour grapes. Vida's original post is as follows:
Here's something funny. About a few months ago, during the XPL token TGE period, Ray was one of the few market players who made me anxious. Because he achieved something I couldn't have at 19, and I knew he was genuinely talented.
Are you envious? Yes, I am.
Jealous? Yes, I am.
But I will never say things like "It's just luck, I'll lose it all sooner or later" to comfort myself like an ostrich.
My inner monologue was: "Damn, another one with such an insane talent and a chosen one of destiny has appeared. I'm so anxious, so I need to work even harder in my own niche."
I completely understand people who are envious, because I am also someone who is easily envious. Over the years in this market, I have seen so many people who have made money that I envy. But I always use my jealousy as motivation to move forward, rather than to step on others.
I also study and learn from those high achievers who make me anxious, thinking about how to learn some of their abilities and apply them to myself. For example, a while ago, CBB from the English CT program suddenly started showing off his achievements, which made me very anxious. So I immediately started monitoring CBB's related addresses and learning from his various financial management methods. After learning what kind of financial activities he was going to use science to target, I also started learning how to target them.
