Today's topic is about being stuck in positions, taking losses, and liquidation. I used to joke that out of 12 months in a year, I'm holding through losses for 10 of them. This has been a recurring theme since I entered the space at the end of 2022. Just like now, being fully positioned and stuck—when I calculate it carefully, this state started around October of last year, and today is March 12th, so it's been almost 5 months already.

The hardest part about being stuck is in the early stages. That's when regret hits the hardest, when you're most conflicted. You regret going all-in on this shitcoin, you struggle with whether to cut the loss. Facing 10-20% losses, roughly 20,000-30,000 USDT, if the original bullish logic I believed in still holds, I definitely stick with it out of wishful thinking and keep holding.

In most cases where you don't cut losses early, the losses just keep expanding. That's usually when I start adding to my position, scrounging for money to buy more. If I dared to buy at 10, why would I be scared to buy at 5? What a bargain! Sometimes I even worry it'll suddenly pump, and looking at that glaring red showing 70,000-80,000 in losses, it really hurts.

When the overall loss reaches 70-80%, you're basically on your last breath. At this point, even if you have money, you don't dare add more. Then it splits into two scenarios: first, whether you have enough money to average the liquidation price down to zero; second, whether you actually have no money left and the liquidation price is uncomfortably close. The first scenario makes you numb—20-30% swings feel like nothing because you're so deep in the hole. The second scenario genuinely causes anxiety—you can't sleep at night, terrified of getting liquidated in the middle of the night.

As for cutting losses, that also depends: first, when the upside logic you originally believed in no longer holds, you'll cut no matter how much loss you're facing. Second, when you discover another coin you think will pump even more, you'll switch positions.

Finally, liquidation. As a trader who's both aggressive and risk-averse, I've been liquidated very few times. I'm aggressive because I love going all-in on altcoins, but risk-averse because I basically never use more than 2x leverage nowadays—I can usually sustain anything. The liquidation that left the deepest impression was October 11th of last year. That feeling of powerlessness was bone-deep, mixed with some lingering hope, grateful that I'd already taken out most of my profits.

When facing adversity, my mindset is genuinely optimistic because I truly believe the coins I bought will pump. Though I get discouraged occasionally, overall I live in fields of hope, holding onto hope, self-comforting, self-convincing.

The biggest problem with altcoins right now is they've lost their boom-bust cycles. Whether it's individual coins or the altcoin market as a whole—too many coins just plummet infinitely toward zero from day one. Project teams just come to cash out; they don't have money to provide market-making and distribution. This causes altcoin consensus to deteriorate, leading to a vicious cycle.

In summary: altcoin money gets harder to make every year. You must deeply understand cycles and follow them. When there's no action, you must control yourself—even if it means just eating, drinking, and having fun, don't recklessly fidget around. There are still 1-2 localized altcoin rallies every year. If you catch one, you make more than most industries.