Source: Miles Deutscher&Zeneca

Compiled by Odaily

Translator: Wenser（@wenser 2010 ）

Editor's Note: As the Trump effect gradually weakens and the impact of the global economic and political situation continues to spread, mainstream Altcoins including BTC have seen a significant decline recently, and there are voices in the market saying that the bull market has ended and the bear market has arrived. The gradually fading Meme coin market and the AI Agent concept token projects have also rekindled people's fear of the bear market. The more we are in this moment, the more important confidence is. In view of this, Odaily will combine the "experience posts" of 2 top-level English-speaking A8 experts to sort out the many lessons that can be learned, for readers' reference. Hopefully, when the spring comes, every crypto industry practitioner can wait for the clouds to part and see the bright moon.

NFT Whale, A8 Big V Zeneca: Sell High, Profit Forever, Screenshot and Sell

In the last cycle, I made tens of millions. Here are a few points I've learned:

1. Sell High, Profit Forever

It's usually better to sell early, even if you miss out on some gains. This is because you'll eventually find that almost everything tends towards zero.

So even if you sell early and miss out on some profits, when you look back on that decision in the next few months or years, you'll realize you were a genius.

2. Screenshot and Sell

If you take a screenshot of how much money you've made, that's the time to sell.

You don't have to sell your entire position, but usually reducing it by 20-50% is a good idea.

3. Ignore the Noise

Most people on X platform and crypto-related apps have no idea what they're talking about.

The loudest and most confident voices are usually the most clueless, while the quiet ones who can self-reflect are full of wisdom.

4. Confidence Can't Be Borrowed

It's obvious that you can't borrow confidence from others.

If you buy something because someone else did or told you it might take off, you'll almost certainly get rekt.

Then those people will shift the blame to you, while you anxiously wait for their next tweet or YouTube video to tell you what to do next.

5. Don't Care What Others Think

Stop trying to impress people.

This is a general life advice, but it's especially applicable in the crypto space.

Wanting to impress friends and family, to be liked and followed, is one thing. Wanting to impress strangers online to get attention? Don't be silly.

6. Bitcoin is the One True God

Bitcoin came first, and then everything else.

It took me a long time to truly realize this.

Yes, Altcoins sometimes outperform Bitcoin - sometimes for long stretches - but fundamentally, in the long run, everything flows back to Bitcoin.

Most people try to trade these Altcoins to get gains far beyond Bitcoin's; probably less than 5% of people can actually pull that off.

It's like trying to beat the S&P 500 index fund. For most people, the best investment is just to buy the index fund directly.

7. Don't Let FOMO Cloud Your Judgement

The crypto industry always has a way of distorting your thinking, almost like a mental illness.

In the last cycle, many of us refused to sell a set of word pictures (i.e. NFTs) for $50,000 because we thought "it was undervalued". Many other smart people did the same, and you were no exception.

Herd mentality is real, and it takes a tremendous amount of courage to go against the grain here. You should try it.

8. Engage with the Real World, Don't Lose Sight of Money's True Value

From this moment on, try to broaden your horizons and also spend time with people outside the crypto industry.

1 SOL or 0.08 ETH may not seem like much money (unit bias is real), but think about how much you can accumulate in a day or a year, and what you can do with that money in the real world.

Also, most people are thrilled to get a 10% return on their investment in a year, which is perfectly reasonable.

In fact, crypto has distorted our notions of investment returns and everything else.

9. Harness the Power of Compounding, Seize Certainties

The power of compounding is astoundingly strong.

In fact, you don't need to find 100x growth, often just a few 2x growths in a row are good enough, or even 10-50% annual compounding growth is extremely difficult to achieve (have you ever thought about the crazy magnitude of high percentage compounding over many years?).

Another way to put it: "Most people overestimate what they can achieve in a year and underestimate what they can achieve in ten years."

A Crypto Researcher Who Lost an A7 and Made It Back, Miles: Take Profits and Losses in Time, Respect Every Dollar

Here are 10 hard lessons I learned after paying millions of dollars in tuition fees.

Undoubtedly, each crypto cycle will force you to perform better in emotional management.

For me, 2021 was a disastrous year. At that time, my assets reached seven figures, but in the end I was almost wiped out.

In this cycle, my investment performance has improved, although the drawdowns are still beyond my expectations, but I have managed to preserve most of my investment gains. Well, in the crypto world, you can never stop learning.

1. Sell Early is Better Than Sell Late

I've never regretted selling a coin too early, but I've always regretted not selling in time to lock in profits.

Rather than selling too late and ending up with little, it's better to take profits gradually.

2. Take Profits When It's Time

Many times, I chose to convert my profits into stablecoins, only to find myself chasing the next investment game.

However, when I converted them into fiat currency or other "real world" investments, those funds may have been temporarily unavailable (for security reasons).

I suppose it also depends on one's personality.

I'm a restless person, so the more measures I can put in place to prevent impulsive decisions and make myself think, the more beneficial this behavior will be for me.

3. Complacency is Deadly

There was a time when I lied to myself that I was making money, but in reality I was making far too little.

Yeah, I just took $100,000 off the desktop - "Look how great I am, mom! I'm making money!"

In reality, I still held millions of Altcoins that only had paper gains.

I found that I always use the value of my investment portfolio as a comfort, rather than the actual stable coin weight of the portfolio - which is a more important indicator for preserving wealth.

Undoubtedly, the biggest killer in the crypto field is the feeling of complacency.

Ignoring warning signs = complacency;

Not making a profit = complacency;

Slow response to new information = complacency;

Poor planning = complacency;

99% of mistakes in the market can be attributed to some form of complacency.

4. Respect Every Dollar

That day I saw this tweet and it resonated with me deeply. (Note from Odaily: Overseas influencer Loopify previouslyposted that people really don't understand how precious it is to have $1 million in cash reserves. Even with a successful career, it still takes a long time to earn. If you become a top professional, earning $400,000 a year, it may take 5 years to accumulate; if you can earn $200,000 a year, it will probably take 10 years to do so.)

For those in the Altcoin industry, we sometimes completely lose our sense of value.

For example, in December last year I made a trade and made $1.7 million in profit. Now, I really wish I had half the wealth I had then.

At the time, I felt that money didn't matter, because it's easy to be influenced by such an excited state.

Always stay clear-headed (even in crazy moments), cherish every penny, because one day you will cherish such money even more.

5. Gradually Accumulate Compound Interest

Most of the mistakes in the market are fundamentally rooted in the pursuit of fast (and "easy") returns.

But the wealth accumulated in the long run actually comes from the compound returns gained over time.

You should treat each trade as a "gamble", with the goal of increasing your overall chips (like in poker).

6. Don't Be Misled by Target Prices or Profit Targets

The market doesn't care about the target prices you set arbitrarily, whether it's a specific dollar value or a multiple. Chasing targets is a guaranteed win-win trade.

If you really reach the target price at some point, just sell. Don't be greedy, and don't change your profit target.

At least, use fewer chips to pursue a new target price, and protect your trading principles.

7. Set Stop-Loss Indicators

At the end of last year, I made a lot of progress in this area. But there was a period (especially in March 2024) where I still didn't do well, and more effective stop-loss could have avoided a lot of pain. It may be as simple as setting a predetermined HTF (high time frame, i.e. longer trading time frame) support level/moving average, reducing positions when the structure is broken; it can also be more advanced, such as identifying LTF (low time frame, i.e. shorter trading time frame) loss momentum and re-entering when the market is rising.

In a trending market, this usually works well. But at least have some form of stop-loss indicator, rather than waiting for your position to go to zero.

8. Don't Borrow Confidence from Others

Whenever I buy Altcoins based on someone else's views (rather than my own judgment), the results are not satisfactory.

Reference others' ideas - but verify them independently, and establish your own views and beliefs.

Otherwise, you'll end up holding those tokens without any real belief, or not knowing what to do when that belief is tested.

9. Don't Hold Any Altcoins Long-Term

Investing in Altcoins is a bit like a maze.

Your default mindset should be that each time you buy, you are trading the Altcoin against the US dollar. (Note from Odaily: That is, always pay attention to the exchange rate between the Altcoin and the US dollar, and use this to judge the possible price trend.)

I like this way of thinking, because it formalizes the need to develop a clear profit-taking/stop-loss plan. Many people may be lazy in this regard.

"Investing" is not an excuse for poor risk management. Now a trade can last 3 days, 3 weeks, 3 months, 6 months, and in some cases even 12 months.

But please note that this is just trading, and your ultimate goal is to accumulate more BTC or other capital.

10. Don't Use Leverage for Contracts Just for the Sake of Risk-Taking

Since the beginning of this cycle, I've only had 2 sleepless nights, and those 2 moments occurred when I held a large amount of leveraged contract trades.

Only use leverage to manage risk (such as hedging), not to take on more risk.

If you want to hold long-term, spot trading is more suitable.