How I Found My Winning Strategy After Blowing Two Crypto Accounts

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If you’ve ever blown a trading account, you know the gut-wrenching feeling that comes with it. I’m not talking about a small loss or a bad trade — I mean wiping out your entire balance and having to start over from scratch. For me, it happened twice in crypto, and while it was painful, it turned out to be the most valuable learning experience of my trading journey.

In this post, I’ll share what led me to blow those accounts, the lessons I learned the hard way, and how those failures eventually guided me to building a strategy that actually works.

The First Blow-Up: Overconfidence Meets Leverage

Like many new traders, I entered the crypto market during a bull run. Everywhere I looked, people were posting massive gains, and I thought I could do the same with just a little “skill” and a lot of confidence.

At the time, I didn’t even have a real trading plan. I just jumped into trades because a coin looked like it was “going up” or because someone on Twitter said it was about to moon. Worst of all, I discovered leverage trading and convinced myself I was smart enough to use it.

Spoiler: I wasn’t.

I overleveraged, ignored stop losses, and chased pumps. It only took one bad overnight move to liquidate my entire account. Just like that — account number one, gone.

The Second Blow-Up: Chasing Revenge

You’d think I would have learned my lesson, but instead, I came back even more reckless. Losing that first account wasn’t just financially painful — it was an ego hit. I wanted to prove to myself (and maybe others) that I could “make it back.”

So I funded a new account and did exactly what you shouldn’t do: I started revenge trading.

Every time I lost a trade, I doubled down on the next one. If I won, I felt invincible. If I lost, I just tried harder to win the next. It was an emotional rollercoaster, and within weeks, I blew up account number two.

This time, I had to take a step back. Clearly, the problem wasn’t the market — it was me.

The Turning Point

After two failures, I realized I couldn’t just “wing it” anymore. Trading wasn’t gambling, and unless I treated it like a skill, I’d just keep repeating the same mistakes.

So, I did something I hadn’t done before: I stopped trading. Instead, I started studying.

I read books on trading psychology, risk management, and technical analysis. I backtested strategies on historical charts. I started following traders who talked about discipline instead of “moonshots.” And most importantly, I began journaling every trade I made — what setup I saw, why I entered, how I felt, and how it ended.

That’s when things started to change.

The Core Lessons I Learned

Blowing two accounts wasn’t just about losing money — it was about exposing the flaws in how I approached trading. Here are the biggest lessons that shaped my current strategy:

1. Risk Management Comes First

Before, I risked 20–30% of my account on a single trade. Now? I rarely risk more than 1–2%. This alone changed everything. It gave me staying power and removed the constant fear of blowing up again.

2. A Strategy Isn’t Just Indicators

At first, I thought having RSI and MACD on my chart meant I had a “strategy.” Wrong. A real strategy is a set of rules: entry criteria, stop loss placement, position sizing, and exit targets. Once I defined mine, trading stopped feeling random.

3. Patience Pays

One of my biggest problems was overtrading. I felt like I needed to be in the market all the time. But I learned that the best trades often take days or weeks to set up. Now, I trade less but win more.

4. Emotions Kill Accounts

The second blow-up proved how destructive emotions can be. I had to train myself to stick to my rules no matter how I felt — whether it was fear of missing out, greed after a win, or frustration after a loss.

5. Trading is a Business, Not a Lottery

When I started treating trading like running a business — tracking performance, managing expenses (losses), and focusing on consistency instead of jackpots — I finally started seeing steady growth.

Building My Winning Strategy

So, what does my strategy actually look like now? It’s simple, but it works for me:

• Markets I trade: A small handful of crypto pairs (BTC, ETH, and sometimes 1–2 alts).
• Timeframe: 4H and Daily charts (no more staring at the 1-minute chart losing my mind).
• Tools: Support and resistance, liquidity zones, and RSI for confirmation.
• Risk: Maximum 1–2% per trade, with a clear stop loss every time.
• Journal: I still write down every trade, review them weekly, and look for patterns.

This isn’t a holy grail system. I still lose trades. But the difference is: I don’t blow accounts anymore. Losses are just part of the game, and they don’t destroy me the way they used to.

The Results So Far

Since adopting this approach, my trading has completely changed. I’m no longer trying to double my account overnight — I’m aiming for steady, compounding growth. Some weeks I don’t trade at all, and that’s fine. Other weeks I take one or two solid trades and come out ahead.

Most importantly, I finally feel in control. I don’t chase pumps, I don’t revenge trade, and I don’t lose sleep over charts.

Final Thoughts

Blowing two accounts was painful, but I wouldn’t trade those experiences for anything. They forced me to confront my weaknesses and develop the discipline I desperately needed.

If you’re struggling in your trading journey, here’s my advice: don’t just focus on finding the perfect strategy. Focus on yourself. Build discipline, master risk management, and treat trading like the skill it is.

Because in the end, the market doesn’t care how many times you blow up — it only rewards those who learn, adapt, and come back stronger.

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How I Found My Winning Strategy After Blowing Two Crypto Accounts was originally published in Coinmonks on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.