I almost got eliminated in that match.

On the penultimate day, I was still ranked 13th, and the feeling of being at the bottom wasn't pleasant. But what I didn't expect was that the turnaround would come so quickly—in the last 48 hours, I fought my way into the top three.

To be honest, I was losing terribly in the early stages.

I have always been accustomed to chasing small-cap coins, but the market has been sluggish recently. The liquidity of those low market cap coins is dangerously shallow, and the slippage from buying and selling can eat away most of the profits. It wasn't until I lost 6500U on a long position in SUI and my account was left with only 2400U that I fully realized – this is not spot trading, this is a war of liquidity.

The turning point has arrived.

When Ethereum hit a new low, I made a bold decision: to go long with full leverage. After a wave of rebound, my funds tripled. The liquidity of mainstream coins is indeed smooth, and the trading experience is completely different. But the truth behind this is that high leverage is essentially gambling—either you explode in gains or you get liquidated, with no gray area in between.

Several times my position was close to the liquidation line, and I survived thanks to directional judgment and a bit of luck.

With two days left, I chose to stop.

The initial principal is 10,000 U, with a floating profit of 5,700 U, and I am satisfied with this result. The story of this market is quite similar — most people have made money, but they can't keep the money they earned. Knowing when to push forward and when to retreat is something you need to ponder yourself.

Don't mistake luck for strength, and don't trust fate too much. Circumstances do indeed create heroes, but once the luck runs out, heroes can no longer be free.

However, there is a detail I would like to add:

In those highly volatile high-leverage positions, I always kept a portion of my funds in stablecoins—not to climb the rankings, but to be able to "survive" when extreme market conditions arrive. When leveraged positions approach the liquidation threshold, stablecoins act like a lifesaver, providing you with a buffer space to avoid being completely forced out.

It won't give you huge profits, but at critical moments, it determines whether you can stay in the game.

Trading is the same.

Being radical is fine, but there must be an escape route. The true winners are not those who always win, but those who can afford to lose and still survive to the next round.