No movement in your account balance for half a year? If you don’t fix these two bad habits, you’ll always be stuck in the same place.

Recently, a trading friend complained to me: He’d get the overall market direction mostly right, but would always rush to take small profits and stubbornly hold onto losing trades. After tossing around a $4,000 principal for half a year, his account balance barely changed.

I asked him to send over his recent trading records. After going through over thirty orders, the issues stood out immediately—sloppy stop-losses and hasty take-profits.

After just adjusting these two points, three months later he sent me a screenshot: over $50,000 in his account. He even sighed, “All those previous tuition fees were wasted.”

To put it simply, the principle is straightforward: First figure out how much loss you can tolerate, then think about how much you want to make. Don’t start off dreaming of doubling your money without even knowing your risk threshold—losing money is inevitable that way.

**For short-term trading, stop losses must be quick, precise, and decisive.**

When using leverage for short-term trades, you can’t be sloppy about losses. When I trade ETH short-term, I only risk 2% of my position each time. My stop-loss is set directly at 1.5%. For example, if I open a position at $93,000, the stop-loss is locked at $91,600.

If the price hits that level, I immediately close the position, keeping the loss under $50. Never hold onto the hope of “maybe it’ll bounce back if I wait a bit longer.”

Don’t think small gains aren’t worth the effort—steady monthly returns of 15%-20% will add up and are far better than gambling blindly.

**For mid-term holdings, don’t get scared out by small fluctuations.**

If you want to catch a big move of 30-50%, don’t let a few red candles shake your confidence. When I had that friend trade SOL mid-term, I had him set the 20-day moving average as his lifeline. As long as the price didn’t fall below that line, he’d keep holding—even if there was an 8% pullback along the way, no panic.

Once the price hit the 60% target, take half the profit off the table, and set a trailing stop on the rest. Last month when SOL went from $130 to $175, he used this approach to snag an extra 22% profit.

**Position sizing is more critical than getting the direction right.**

His biggest problem before was: Whenever he was bullish on a coin, he’d throw 60% of his portfolio into it. As soon as it moved against him a little, he’d panic, and even profitable trades would get closed out in a rush.

Later, I told him to size positions based on “tolerable loss.” With a $3,000 principal, he’d risk at most $600 on a single trade. This gave him much more room for error—no more getting thrown off by short-term volatility.

**Finally, let’s be real:**

Stop-losses aren’t a punishment—they’re a shield that protects your capital. Taking profit isn’t greed—it’s a reward for your discipline.

The people who survive and consistently profit in the market are always the ones brave enough to strictly follow the rules.

Are you ready?