The 2024 "Practice Guide" for Senior Traders: How to Capture Opportunities from Volatility and Keep Profits

Author: Nancy, PANews

In 2024, the crypto market experienced a turbulent year full of volatility and development, with Bitcoin breaking through the $100,000 mark to open a new chapter for the industry. In this ever-changing market, some traders get lost in the ever-changing market due to reasons such as out-of-control mentality, improper position management, lagging information, and lack of strategies. Of course, there are also traders who rely on accurate decision-making, decisive operations and profound market knowledge. Insight successfully grasped market opportunities and achieved considerable returns.

Between the alternation of market prosperity and recession, how to effectively grasp the balance between risk and reward, and how to adjust strategies to respond to different market fluctuations are key factors that determine whether you can make long-term profits in the crypto market. In this article, PANews interviews and compiles multiple senior traders, shares their operating experience and investment lessons in 2024, and discusses how to optimize trading strategies, capture market opportunities and hold on to profits.

Trading Reflections: Risk, Strategy and Emotion

Amid the volatility and uncertainty of the crypto market, traders’ experiences and lessons learned provide valuable insights. Whether adopting a sound investment strategy or speculating on short-term opportunities, risk management, strategy adjustment and emotional control are particularly important in trading.

Chainup Investment CIO Amanda has more than seven years of experience in crypto trading. She has flexibly adjusted her strategy according to market changes this year. For example, in Q1, she selected a number of potential projects, including AI tokens RENDER, FET and AIOZ, as well as DeFi tokens RBN, PENDLE and INJ; in Q4, in addition to investing in IOTA, she also actively purchased DOGE, PEPE and Some political MEME coins also hold positions in multiple projects such as RSR, DYDX, LQTY and KAIA. At the same time, Amanda also paid great attention to short-term speculative opportunities. Especially in November, she increased her position to capture the dividends of Trump Trade and exited in time to take profits. However, she also revealed some regrets in the interview. For example, she missed the opportunity to invest heavily in SOL and MEME in the first half of the year. Regarding the buying timing of SUI, although she successfully captured the profits in the first half, she failed to fully grasp its subsequent gains. increase.

The founder of CashCashBot, Sa Bige, has also accumulated rich trading experience in the crypto field. His seven-year trading history has allowed him to navigate the market with ease. In the interview, he revealed that he has achieved good results in the MEME sector this year, especially MOODENG’s 5,000-fold increase, which brought a profit of US$350,000.

Crypto KOL LaserCat397 with three years of trading experience is an in-depth player on the MEME track. This year, he has achieved good growth in his overall assets due to his investment in MEME coins. However, he also encountered challenges in investment judgment and position management, such as errors in the operation of MEME currency PUPS. As a result, floating earnings once retraced nearly 90%.

In contrast, Cobo VP Alex, who has six years of trading experience, adopts a sound investment strategy. His most successful transaction this year came from Bitcoin, and his biggest regret was that he chose to participate in the airdrop activities of aevo and vertex and missed the opportunity of Hyperliquid.

Top trader Eugene also recently summarized his experience and lessons in trading, especially the mistakes of ignoring stop loss points and not stopping losses in time. He revealed that due to SOL’s strong performance on the low time frame (LTF) and the confidence brought by the success of several previous transactions, he used $60 million to go long SOL, but still chose to continue when SOL fell below the stop loss point. Holding it with a 'hopeful' mentality led to the largest single loss in the account in history.

A survival guide from tools to mindset

In trading decisions, many successful traders will use third-party tools to assist decision-making to improve efficiency and accuracy, thereby reducing decision-making errors. These tools can help capture market signals, analyze on-chain data, and provide real-time feedback to help traders better control the pulse of the market.

Amanda revealed in the interview that her team independently developed a data monitoring platform and customized on-chain data tools, such as Dune and Flipside. At the same time, the team will also use CryptoQuant, Coinglass, Artemis, Defillama and Kaito to observe Bitcoin on-chain data, exchange contract data, public chain and other indicators to help make more accurate investment decisions.

Brother Sabi believes that on-chain data analysis is crucial to capturing market trends in advance. He uses the on-chain trading signals and data analysis tools provided by his self-developed CashCashBot to help quickly identify which market hot spots are attracting smart money, as well as the potential investment directions of the main players on the chain. LaserCat397 mentioned that he used Abot, but this tool is about to be shut down.

Although trading levels can be improved with the help of third-party tools, trading in the crypto market with high volatility and high risk is not easy, and even experienced traders cannot guarantee that all judgments are correct. Therefore, survival experience is particularly valuable, especially for novice traders.

Crypto analyst Altcoin Sherpa pointed out that the bull market does not mean that all currencies will return to the ATH (historical high) level, and do not stick to it in order to achieve unrealistic target prices. If the portfolio is very diversified, then it is recommended to sell more than 50-75% of the positions at the end of the next rotation. At the same time, you should continue to analyze data every week, constantly re-evaluate the top and end points of market cycles, and independently analyze and operate your own investment portfolio.

“The most successful traders did not get where they are today by perfectly timing every peak. If you have unrealized profits that can change your life, you will gain a benefit that cannot be measured in money: permanently improving you and those around you. life." Crypto researcher Route 2 FI also pointed out.

Former TradFi CTO @Game believes that investors should focus on key areas and combine capital scale, advantages and market environment to focus on areas that are most in line with current market conditions and can bring the highest returns. At the same time, they should also make it clear what they are doing in investment, trading and speculation. and develop a clear action plan (market value range, stop loss point, profit plan, etc.) and continuous reflection. In addition, do not close the door and expand, but expand to provide macro trends, market cycles and other important information beyond the scope of cognition. information circle.

Crypto KOL Based Money Lich King has summarized dozens of rules for survival, such as not to use perpetual contracts rashly, not to blindly worship founders, not to lock up your tokens, not to buy skyrocketing assets, and not to connect to unfamiliar applications at will. , remember to take profit and many other practical suggestions.

Amanda suggested that newcomers should keep an open mind, always pay attention to the dynamic changes in the market, focus on areas that they understand, and find a balance between the positive and negative aspects of the project. Only when they can accept the negative aspects of the project and the positives far outweigh the negatives can they invest. Brother Sabi emphasized that on-chain data analysis capabilities are an essential skill for every trader, and they must establish a trading strategy that suits them and strictly implement it. Alex believes that the cultivation of mentality is the key, and a good mentality helps to make calm decisions. LaserCat397 advises newcomers to start from their own areas of advantage, find a track that suits them, and focus on doing what they are good at. The results will be twice the result with half the effort.

Strategy optimization from opportunity **capture to profit

preservation**

In the context of changes in the market environment, adjusting trading strategies and methods is also crucial to accelerating returns. It can be seen from the traders' sharing that we should respond flexibly to market changes and constantly evaluate and optimize trading strategies according to our own circumstances, find opportunities from short-term market fluctuations, and remain flexible and sensitive to long-term trends.

Alex admitted in the interview that the crypto market experienced a sharp retracement in March this year, especially in August and September, when market liquidity was extremely sluggish. At this stage, his personal strategy is to withdraw funds from the market and invest them in neutral strategies of DeFi and arbitrage. He believes that as the current encryption market becomes more and more professional, the returns of previous capital fee arbitrage strategies are gradually decreasing, so more new opportunities need to be found, and more strategies are migrating to the chain.

"The previous trading path was from BTC to ETH, then to large currencies and then to small currencies; but now it is from BTC to SOL, and then to small currencies. The issuance of stable coins has a more significant impact on the performance of small currencies." Amanda It is pointed out that when the market fluctuates, appropriate position adjustment and profit making are necessary. Risk management is very important. Generally speaking, she will classify each investment token/project before making a decision. Whether the project has fundamentals, whether it is popular, and whether it is driven by technology. For example, projects with fundamentals can appropriately increase their positions. For projects that are popular, it is necessary to judge the sustainability of the popularity and pay attention to whether there are catalysts (because the currency circle is still an ineffective market, so market consensus must be pursued. There is also a risk of Alpha discovering it too early. (large opportunity cost); and for technology-driven projects, you need to pay close attention to price trends. She emphasized that in the bear market, we should reduce the number of currencies with unsatisfactory economic models, while in the bull market, we should adjust our strategies more keenly, trade frequently and make profits.

In Brother Sabi’s opinion, this year the market pays more attention to MEME on the chain. He believes that changes in on-chain data are high-value reference signals that could not be obtained on exchanges in the past, and more accurate trading strategies can be made based on this. For example, trading strategies can be adjusted by analyzing changes in the main position data on the chain.

LaserCat397 said in an interview that the market in the middle of this year is very difficult to operate. He suggested that everyone should do less, observe more, and wait for the best opportunity in this market environment. In a bull market, you need to open the pattern and then hold on.

Altcoin Sherpa said that in the future, investors should try their best to consolidate investments, reduce the number of new positions opened, and reduce the types of overall positions. He has sold off many of the less confident coins during the recent rally and reallocated funds to other higher-quality projects.

“Making money in the crypto market is one thing, holding on to it is another. When you plan an exit strategy for a cycle, the goal is to minimize the retracement from the top after the cycle turns. For those who claim to be able to do both bull and bear markets I can only wish you good luck to those who continue to make profits, because it means you will become the top 0.01% of traders in the world," Eugene emphasized.

Potential sectors and investment opportunities **from a trader’s

perspective** in 2025

Under the bull market atmosphere, major institutions around the world have recently released their outlook and forecasts for the encryption market in 2025. From a trader's perspective, 2025 will be a more diversified and mature market, and various emerging sectors and technologies may become new growth points.

Altcoin Sherpa pointed out that the crypto market is expected to usher in a new rising stage in the next 4-8 weeks, mainly due to the high Bitcoin dominance rate (btc.d), seasonal factors, the possible rise of Ethereum/Bitcoin, and market funds. This is driven by a variety of reasons, including rotation and a shift in the government's positive attitude. But from a rotation perspective, it seems that all currencies will rise, but at the same time there is no overall upward trend. From now on, the market will belong primarily to traders, not long-term holders.

LaserCat397 believes that the MEME sector will still be home in 2025. In addition, he is also particularly optimistic about the performance of infrastructure projects, especially the payment track. Brother Sabi looks forward to 2025 as the year of large-scale popularization of the encryption market. He believes that compared with the past, various infrastructures will be significantly improved, which will allow more users and funds to flow into the market. In particular, MEME currency is likely to become the first choice for new traffic to enter the market due to its simplicity, ease of understanding and powerful communication capabilities.

Alex is also optimistic about the market prospects in 2025, believing that the future focus will mainly be on AI, DeFi and payment fields. Amanda pointed out that 2025 may be the second half of the crypto bull market, and small currencies have greater room for growth. She reminded investors to pay attention to "top signals", that is, changes in market signals and high-risk opportunities, while emphasizing the importance of "be sifu" - exiting the market at the right time to avoid being swallowed up by market fluctuations. In terms of specific sector selection, she is optimistic about the overall growth potential of AI, especially AI-agents, Move language (more choices are RWA, BTC L2, Chain Abstraction, and new DeFi), and RWA-related projects.

Eugene is optimistic about the MEME market. He recently mentioned four MEME coins: MOODENG, CHILLGUY, PNUT and GOAT. He believes that although these MEME coins have experienced significant panic selling and gave back most of the gains in the alt season, he is still optimistic about these projects and tends to use them as targets for long-term layout.