**Many people, after getting liquidated, immediately blame leverage, not realizing that the real killer isn’t the leverage multiplier itself, but the four words: “all-in, full position.”**

Let’s use simple math: with a $10,000 fund, if you use $9,000 to open a 10x long position, a mere 5% market pullback will wipe you out via forced liquidation; but if you only use $1,000 at 10x, even if there’s a deep 50% correction, your remaining $9,000 principal is still sitting in your account, ready to give you another shot. That’s the difference in survival space—the former is running naked on a tightrope, the latter has left themselves nine lives.

**There’s no shortage of cautionary tales in the market.** Using 90% of your capital with 10x leverage is basically handing your fate over to 5% volatility—any small move and your account is wiped out. Leverage is essentially an amplifier; it magnifies both your correct judgments and your mistakes. Going all-in is like assuming you’ll be right every single time—even market makers don’t have that kind of confidence.

**From blood and tears to profits, there are three iron rules:**

First, never use more than 20% of your total capital in a single position. $2,000 might not seem like much, but that’s your cost of making mistakes—even if you’re wrong and stop out at a 10% loss, you’re only down $200, leaving 80% of your capital as ammo to adjust your strategy. Too many people bump their position size to 50% because “it doesn’t feel exciting enough,” and a single pullback wipes out all chances of a comeback.

Second, after making a profit, you must withdraw your principal in batches. Once you’ve made 30%, pull out 10% into a cold wallet—this money is completely out of the market, effectively insuring your trading career. A common problem is that people want to keep chasing more after making a profit, only to see their gains evaporate and even lose their principal.

Third, always set hard stop-losses on countertrend trades. There’s nothing wrong with bottom-fishing or top-picking, but you have to admit “I might be wrong,” so before opening any countertrend position, set a strict stop-loss. If it triggers, accept the loss and move on—never hold and hope. Holding for a rebound, nine times out of ten, leads to a liquidation notice.

**The data doesn’t lie:** Last year, among the group I mentored, the most conservative only traded 8 times all year, never using more than 15% per position, and ended up with a 35% return; the most aggressive used the full 20% allocation and caught a few swings right, achieving an 82% annualized return. Their common ground—they never let a single loss exceed 2% of their principal, so they always had the right to get back in the game.

Leverage is a tool, not a poison. The key is whether you use it like a scalpel or swing it like a cleaver. ETH, BTC—targets may change, but the underlying logic of position management never goes out of style.