The most frequently asked question lately: I only have a few hundred to a couple of thousand dollars in my account, is there still hope for contract trading? I get nervous as soon as I open a position.

To be honest, your fear is understandable.

Why? One of the most common ways to die in a 1000-dollar account is to treat yourself as a big player with 100,000 in capital and trade aggressively. That’s where the problem lies. Over the past few years, I’ve mentored many beginners. Among those small-cap players who survived, none of them started by rushing in. Not a single one.

The first step to avoid crashing is not to study coins or focus on various technical indicators. The real thing to do is one simple action: **Never fire all your bullets at once**.

My approach is straightforward—divide. Split the 1000 dollars into 5 parts, and only use 200 dollars each time to trade. Don’t go overboard with leverage; 5x to 10x is enough. Those who jump straight into 50x or 100x leverage are basically not trading—they’re gambling—waiting for some needle-in-the-haystack event to wipe them out.

The remaining four parts stay untouched, do nothing with them.

What if one part gets lost? Don’t top up, don’t get emotional. That’s a pitfall I’ve fallen into before. After losing, the urge to recover makes you keep adding positions, and eventually, you go down a black hole. I later realized: **Sometimes stopping is more important than constantly trading**.

Markets change every day, and opportunities are everywhere. If you don’t take this trade, it’s no big deal. Take a day or two off, reflect on why you lost, and once your mindset is reset, split the remaining funds into smaller parts and start again. Build gradually, don’t expect to turn things around in one shot.

There’s also a very important point I always emphasize—**As soon as you make a profit, withdraw it immediately**. Suppose you make 500 dollars on a trade, don’t be greedy; don’t leave all 500 in your trading account. Transfer out 300 dollars, leave 200 dollars to continue trading. Once you’ve accumulated real principal, your mindset changes, and you won’t get reckless anymore.

I’ve seen too many people, looking at a few hundred dollars of unrealized profit, unwilling to take it, waiting for a bigger rally. Then, a needle-in-the-haystack event hits, and the account is wiped out, forcing them to start over. This has happened too many times.

This might be a bit harsh: **Using 10x leverage in contracts, just a 10% wrong move in direction, and your principal is gone**. And for coins like BTC, is a 10% jump in a day common? Not rare at all. Such volatility is frequent.

Veteran traders in the industry, maintaining a 60% win rate is already considered a master. So, what really determines whether you survive is never about how accurate your predictions are. The key is: **Is your position size small enough? Can you cut losses in time?**

My own discipline is very simple:
- If daily loss reaches 2% of total funds, start to be alert
- If it hits 6%, stop immediately, close the trading software
- Protect the principal first, then pursue profits
- Never let a big rally turn into a wasted effort

For beginners, remember these few words: **Don’t chase small funds, control leverage, set stop-loss points first, take profits and exit**. Money comes out slowly, not through a big all-in gamble.

If you’re still struggling with how to start, begin by adjusting according to these suggestions. Risk control always comes first; profits are always waiting behind.