Foreword

In the cryptocurrency, a 24/7 non-stop global financial market, an ordinary person may achieve financial freedom overnight, or they may lose everything in an instant. Over the past year, the MEME market has witnessed countless myths of thousandfold or even ten-thousandfold returns. In this world full of opportunities and risks, what kind of person can truly grasp the code to wealth?

Today, we have invited a guest whose track record is well-known but remains very low-key. Once a programmer at ByteDance, he is now a full-time on-chain trader with a massive amount of crypto assets. More importantly, his name is quite unique—'Keep Calm, Keep Calm, Keep Calm'.

In this highly emotional market of Crypto, what does rationality and calmness truly mean? From a speculative mindset to a trading mindset, what kind of journey does this transformation require? When the skyrocketing and plummeting of MEME coins test everyone's psychological endurance, what kind of trading philosophy can help a person stay level-headed amidst the volatility?

Let's step into the world of this mysterious trader together, exploring his wealth code and trading philosophy.

In this issue, our friends from OKX converse with the guest: Keep Calm, Keep Calm, Keep Calm. Interviewer: Mercy Messi. Welcome everyone to follow along~

Chapter 1: From ByteDance Programmer to On-Chain Trader

Mercy: Could you please start with a brief self-introduction?

Keep Calm: Hello everyone, I'm Keep Calm. Friends in the on-chain world should more or less know me. When I was playing with Ethereum NFTs, I gave myself an ENS address name, 'Keep Calm, Keep Calm, Keep Calm'. I kind of forgot why I suddenly wanted to use this name back then, maybe I had aped into too many projects and pulled liquidity, and I wanted to calm myself down a bit. Many people followed me on Twitter through my address.

Along the way, I have earned decent returns on many coins on-chain, and I also became one of the front runners in last year's Solana MEME market.

Mercy: You tweeted that you used to work at ByteDance. Could you share what led you to enter the crypto space from ByteDance?

Keep Calm: I got into Crypto during the peak of the 2021 bull market when I was still working at ByteDance. At that time, I heard some Crypto getting-rich-quick stories in chats with other colleagues. I had just bought a house and was under a lot of financial pressure, so I was eager to participate and had some colleagues pull me into a few pump groups.

Back then, I never thought I would eventually quit my job to trade crypto, let alone achieve financial freedom. I just saw it as a trading opportunity and wanted to explore whether I could make some money. So, in addition to my daily work, I started getting involved in the crypto space. Although not full-time, I participated in almost all the hot topics on the blockchain in the past two to three years, including NFTs, Ethereum's MEME tokens, and Solana's MEME tokens that started last year.

Throughout this process, I transitioned from a beginner to a more experienced blockchain player. However, because I couldn't dedicate myself full-time to crypto, I did miss out on many opportunities. To be honest, in the past few years, there have been quite a few opportunities for regular users to make money on the blockchain.

Mercy: What finally made you decide to quit Byte and enter the crypto space full-time?

Cold: Quitting Byte to trade crypto full-time was mainly due to the great market performance in the second half of last year. I felt it was challenging to balance both. During that time, I often had to wake up at 4-5 am to watch the market, then stay alert until after 9 am when I had to go to work. After returning home in the evening, I'd spend another one or two hours trading crypto in front of the computer, then go to bed around 10 pm. I felt very exhausted.

Friends would often ask me when I was going to quit because during that time, the earnings from one meme coin often exceeded a year's salary. But I personally felt that even though I made some money, I wasn't ready to quit. After all, my Web2 salary was still good at that time.

The turning point that made me determined to quit Byte and join the crypto space full-time was in November last year when I encountered PNUT. I always liked this narrative and after researching its market cap ranking in the spot meme market, I found that it was second to last or third. Even narratives and hype with lower market cap than it were far less than PNUT.

At that time, I judged that if I bought in, the safety cushion was relatively high, and the possibility of a major loss was minimal. So, I went all-in. I sold about 20 BTC at that time and bought it all in.

Then, as everyone knows, the next day Musk tweeted that PNUT, this meme coin, saved America. Such a direct mention of a meme coin in a tweet is actually very rare. I remember the market sentiment was also very good at that time, and it skyrocketed in a straight line from over 300 million to around 1.5 billion. Then the next night, it rose to around 2.5 billion, roughly peaking at about 7 times. I liquidated when it dropped to 1.8 billion, but I got my first significant gain. With this capital, I quit my job to trade crypto full-time.

Mercy: How do you think your experience at Byte has influenced your subsequent full-time blockchain trading?

Calm: When I was working at Byte as a programmer, I used to study computer science. I think the biggest influence was that my English is quite good, I understand technology quickly, can comprehend narratives fast, lean towards a more rational trading habit, and am not easily influenced by others.

Mercy: How is full-time on-chain trading different from working at a tech giant?

Calm: There's no turning back, that's for sure. I really like a lyric from a song in Hotel California: "You can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave." You get used to the tense but free life in Crypto, making it hard to go back to a routine life.

Especially during the second half of last year until the time when Trump launched his coin, the daily adrenaline rush from on-chain activities made many things seem dull. The significant difference between full-time on-chain trading and working at a tech giant is that you are completely responsible for yourself. Your income and future are fully in your control, not in the hands of a boss.

So, when the market is good, it will definitely be more intense, but the difficulty and amount of money you can earn in the crypto market are worlds apart. That's why I feel it's entirely voluntary. After waking up, I get excited to sit in front of the computer, checking for opportunities. I could sit there all day, get very little sleep, but not feel very tired.

It also offers more flexibility. For example, if you've made money recently and want to take a break, that's completely okay. No one will come to evaluate you. The kind of life you choose depends on your personality, and I prefer a Crypto lifestyle.

Chapter 2: Cultivating and Transforming Trading Mindset

Mercy: Your Twitter bio mentions "quitting my gambling addiction." Can you share why you included that in your bio?

Calm: Actually, it was at some point after Trump Coin when I felt satisfied with the gains from this round and decided it was time to stop making large trades. After all, money can't be earned endlessly, but it can be lost, so I thought it was time to reduce the risk. Of course, I won't exit the circle; playing on-chain will do.

Before changing my bio to this, I remember my previous bio was: "A 29-year-old man with millions of dollars and a gambling addiction." I used to have a higher risk appetite, as you can tell from my previous all-in bet on PNUT. But after accumulating a significant amount of funds, I felt that I shouldn't continue like that, so I changed it to my current bio.

Mercy: What was the biggest profit or loss you experienced in a single trade?

Calm: My biggest profit was with Trump Coin, where I eventually made around 23 million. As for losses, I usually implement stop-losses, and I rarely take exceptionally large positions on-chain. I also don't play around with exchange tokens, so losing 50-60k USDT is relatively significant for me.

I think the biggest loss I remember was with the Argentine President's Libra, where I lost over 200k USDT. However, at that time, I had just made some gains with Trump, so it didn't feel as impactful. Now, if I were to lose over 200k USDT, I think I would feel uneasy for a few days. Making money nowadays is really challenging. There's a saying that resonates with me: "Always think opportunities are limitless, so never cherish the good days in front of you."

Mercy: How do you manage your mindset when facing significant profits/losses?

Calm: I have always believed in maximizing profits during favorable times and minimizing losses during unfavorable times. I never focus on win rates but rather on position sizes. Regarding mindset management, I am still learning myself, and currently, I have a few key points:

· The first point relates to each person's capital and risk preference. I usually buy into a position where I can comfortably sleep at night, and my definition of comfort is that I am okay even if it goes to zero.

· The second is to invest in projects that I genuinely believe in and find interesting, rather than following others or buying into projects just because someone else did.

· Finally, having my own trading strategy and plan, such as knowing when to take profits based on market cap. In this regard, I think there's a foreign KOL called Alien Cat who said something particularly insightful. He mentioned that a trade can be categorized as a good win, bad win, good lose, or bad lose.

Good win is when you identify a trend and opportunity earlier than others, hold your own view, see the trend align with your perspective, and ultimately achieve the desired profit. This kind of victory is worth celebrating.

Bad win is when you blindly speculate or follow others, and you get lucky, like Elon Musk suddenly mentioning the coin, or when you didn't understand the technology but it turns out to be significant. While it's a win, we should not actively seek this type of victory.

Good lose is when you follow your trading system and theory but don't succeed in the end. Some uncontrollable events may occur, or the market may not agree with your perspective. In recent months, I've had quite a few good loses, but I don't see that as a problem. For example, there are many assets on platforms that don't align with my taste, and missing out on those coins doesn't disappoint me. Also, some coins I like didn't perform well in the end, resulting in no profits, and I find these situations acceptable.

The last one is a Bad Lose, which means your trade is emotion-driven, you did not follow your trading system, and as a result, you paid the price. This kind of failure is what we should avoid.

Chapter 3: Trading System and Coin Selection Philosophy

Mercy: How did you establish your own trading system?

Calm: In trading, we usually divide it into several steps. The first step is to find opportunities, which requires you to collect and build some wallet addresses that can give you some trading signals, as well as discover some high-quality sources of information, such as Twitter users or Alpha groups. Regarding wallet addresses, it is important to note that no matter who buys, it can only serve as a reference, and the decision to buy depends on your own judgment. Blindly copying anyone is a negative EV operation.

Regarding Twitter users and Alpha groups, you need to identify which content is valuable. On-chain players are relatively easy to verify; you just need to look at the profitability of their on-chain addresses. The so-called "Talk is cheap, show me the wallet." I think one trap that newcomers are prone to is that many people on Twitter are actually there for traffic to accept advertisements or to promote paid groups, but remember that a wallet address is always the best means of verification.

After finding an opportunity, the second step is to decide whether to buy. So how do you make that judgment? You need to combine your aesthetic judgment of the MEMEcoin narrative mentioned earlier. However, aesthetics are very subjective, but I think they are also very important, especially when liquidity is good. Because there are many coin launches on-chain every day, you need your own criteria to quickly judge whether to buy a token.

Now, my judgment on whether to buy may take at most one or two minutes to look at it, and I will immediately make a decision. So, I think this aesthetic judgment is quite difficult to quantify, and many times it heavily relies on a person's experiential intuition. If you want to cultivate aesthetics, it is to look and play more, with interesting coins, interesting things, spend less energy on so-called meme coins and scam coins, and slowly develop your narrative-reading abilities.

Mercy: You mentioned on Twitter that you actually choose MEME coins based on aesthetics, which is an interesting statement. Why do you use this as one of your selection criteria?

Calm: I have also tried to quantify some aesthetic criteria before and now share with everyone which coins I am willing to buy:

· The first one is Technological Innovation. Technological innovation doesn't need to be grand, doesn't need to be perfect, but it must be innovative. It can't be a complete copycat, as that would be very cheap.

· The second one is a MEME with the potential for widespread dissemination. This should focus on celebrities, endorsements from big companies. For example: Studio Ghibli. It's actually an image style launched by ChatGPT, which went viral on Twitter, making this MEME have the potential for widespread dissemination because it has the endorsement of a big company. Here, endorsement doesn't refer to a big company launching a coin because the vast majority of MEME coins are rides, it refers to this technology, trend, having a celebrity or big company leading the way, which increases its probability of widespread dissemination.

· The third is a Cult. The so-called cult is like SPX or MemeLord, or like Hippo, or Bitcoin (Bitcoin's ticker, the one from Harry Potter). Many coins on Murad's list belong to this cult category.

Characteristics of these coins: 1. They will eventually form a strong community; 2. Generally speaking, they are not quick-rich schemes and will undergo a long period of shaking out. So you need to be able to hold on, immerse yourself in the community, understand and embrace their culture.

Another type is projects released by other companies at a low market value. For example, a project, a surprise release, or a pre-heating, but at its opening, it was sniped by sniper attacks with a large amount of chips, causing the sniper to aggressively dump the market at the opening, giving you a low-market entry opportunity.

These projects often experience a relatively high rise in a short period of time due to the unreasonable pricing at the opening. After one or two days of hot fermentation, the difference will quickly be eliminated, ultimately returning to its rightful market value. This kind of money is actually more suitable for on-chain players to grab and earn because any sudden hotspots, sudden projects released by other companies, on-chain players can always seize and make a lot of money in a short time, which we all quite like.

Finally, there is a MEME that looks funny at first sight. This depends on each person's understanding of MEME. Previously, there was a mask dog on Base, I found it very funny at first sight, in a video the dog wearing a mask looking at you, these kinds of MEMEs are also my favorite.

The above points are what I call my aesthetic standards. Of course, when I see a coin, I won't use these standards to trap it. Many times, I rely on my feelings, but in the end, the feeling may also fall into these categories.

Mercy: How do you usually set stop-loss orders?

Calm: There are several situations; one is to monitor the project team's Twitter, see the project's progress, if you feel that the project team's Twitter posts are not to your liking, or its progress is not as expected, seems strange, at these times, even if it means losing money, I might sell.

Another reason is when I feel the hype has shifted and I might incur losses, I will also sell at that time. Additionally, if I see the project team engaged in insider trading, I might sell as well. Lastly, when I discover a coin with potentially greater upside, I may transfer my position from one coin to another.

Chapter 4: Current Market Environment and Investment Strategy

Mercy: Recently, many full-time on-chain traders feel that after TRUMP, on-chain trends have become increasingly challenging to navigate, and the meme coin's price ceiling is not as high as before. In the current market environment, what approach do you think should be taken?

Cool: The TRUMP coin was undoubtedly the peak of on-chain liquidity because the months leading up to its coin issuance were already considered the golden age of on-chain transactions.

Back then, projects like MOODENG, NEIRO, GOAT, AI on Solana, HIPPO were such that it felt common for a coin to reach 50 million, with even reaching 50 million to 70 million in a day being quite common. At that time, no one was talking about finding whales. We saw good narratives driving natural price increases. Many people actually made a lot of money during that period.

In the last six months, on-chain liquidity has indeed decreased significantly, making it much more challenging. On one hand, TRUMP drained liquidity, and on the other hand, narratives are not as abundant as last year, which results in a lower price ceiling for these coins. With a low price ceiling, whales are definitely not willing to enter, creating a vicious cycle that makes everyone feel very difficult to play.

Many coins that could rise now have a high concentration of ownership, which is inevitable. I think the most ideal situation for on-chain activities in the near future would be to have a brand new Meta because funds are currently at the secondary level, so the funds are actually there, and the secondary players have a decent amount of money. It's just lacking a new on-chain Meta, similar to how GOAT drives AI agents, at a level that can attract incremental funds, leading to a better wealth effect. Otherwise, the on-chain activity will be PVP every day.

As for the future gameplay developments, I can't predict them myself, but the current market situation should not be too ambitious. For instance, although many recent coins seem very interesting to me and their narratives could reach 80 million to 100 million, once they hit 30 million, their growth stagnates. At such times, you need to adjust your psychological expectations.

Mercy: You shared on Twitter that you bought a significant amount of ETH around 2200, which seems like a wise investment now. Can you explain why you decided to buy a large amount of Ethereum at that time? How do you balance between long-term investments and short-term meme trading?

Calmness: At that time, I mainly felt that ETH being over $2000 was a bear market price, which was indeed very cheap. ETH has the characteristics of decentralization and censorship resistance, and compared to other coins, it has a strong moat. However, at that time, there was not yet the current stablecoin craze, and the ETH ETF had not been approved.

In hindsight, these trends proved to be insignificant in the face of Wall Street's capital, and Wall Street does have a strong storytelling ability.

In terms of long-term investment, before the Trump Coin, apart from on-chain holdings, my exchange holdings were all in BTC. On-chain, every time I made money, I would buy BTC with it, and when I needed money, I would sell the BTC. It was entirely BTC-centric, and all my actions were aimed at acquiring more BTC.

However, after the Trump Coin, I took some of my funds to do stablecoin yield farming because if I were all in BTC, I would involuntarily want to check the price, and its volatility would affect my mood.

Previously, I thought ETH did not have the driving force of the US stock market, and on-chain demand was not strong, so it might not be a good store of value target. That's why I was completely in BTC. Now things have changed a bit, and ETH has received external funding. I know many people have also chosen to hold ETH, but for me, I am not particularly interested in ETH, so currently, other than USDT, I still choose to hold BTC.

Chapter Five: Risk Management in Full-time Trading and Tips for Beginners

Mercy: How do you view and manage the uncertainty of full-time on-chain trading?

Calmness: I think there are two key points to consider before engaging in full-time trading:

· First, whether you have a sustainable and consistent earning ability. And the money earned through this ability is indeed significantly more than what you would earn from a regular job. Because you are taking on more risk, if the money you earn is not much more than or at least equal to what you would earn from a job, it doesn't hold much meaning. If you cannot make money consistently before going full-time, it is highly likely that you won't make money in the crypto world after going full-time. At that point, it would be better to improve your skills while working and resign only when your job really hinders you from making more money.

· The second point is the need for some savings. This is mainly in case the market suddenly turns unfavorable, or if your family needs money for emergencies, you have a safety net. It is best to have at least one to two years' worth of savings for daily expenses.

Mercy: Are there any mistakes that newcomers who want to enter full-time on-chain trading need to definitely avoid?

Calmness: At this stage, on-chain liquidity is poor, so beginners can start by experimenting with small amounts and gradually build their own trading system with a positive EV, enabling stable profits.

Stability doesn't mean a high win rate or making money on every trade, but looking at it over a longer period, such as a week or a month, even though there are gains and losses, the overall profit is positive. If you can make money when liquidity is poor now, then you can shine when on-chain liquidity returns to normal in the future.

Common mistakes to avoid for beginners. First, understand that there are many opportunities in blockchain, so it's important to avoid FOMO buying high. Beginners usually have limited capital, so chasing highs at this point is challenging. If it fails, it can affect your mindset.

The second common mistake beginners make is following others' trades. It's essential to avoid blindly following trades. Many people like to follow Key Opinion Leaders (KOL) or follow smart money. This hinders your ability to improve because merely copying others' trades doesn't help you develop the skill to independently discover projects.

Mercy: Following others' trades usually results in losses. It's only after significant losses from copying others' trades that you realize the need for independent judgment.

Calmness: Yes, maybe you followed a couple of times, made money, felt pleased with yourself, and then ended up losing continuously later on.

Because the leader you followed had their judgment, they might have had a losing streak for a while but could make a big profit on the next trade. However, as a beginner with little capital, after a few losses, you might lose patience or have lost a significant amount of money and stop following. But the leader you followed might make substantial profits next time, and you missed out.

Mercy: How do you feel about the differences and similarities between NFTs and MEME coins in this cycle when you entered the market?

Calmness: NFTs and MEME coins are still very different.

At that time, the liquidity and wealth effect of NFTs were far inferior to MEME coins. In terms of liquidity, NFT projects often struggle to sell, but MEME coins can be easily dumped. For an NFT project, making 20-30 ETH is already a lot, even though that's only around 100,000 USD at the current price. MEME coins seem to have many people making 100,000 USD every day, so there is a significant difference in the wealth effect.

Also, for us primary players, the cost of NFTs is fair, such as during the Mint phase, where everyone's costs are the same. But with MEME coins, if you follow someone, your cost might be twice theirs because they can cash out directly. So, in terms of difficulty, MEME coins pose a much bigger challenge.

For project teams, the requirements for NFTs are also higher. Project teams need at least to create artwork and handle operations. On the other hand, meme coin project teams can essentially create a coin with just a few clicks without incurring any costs.

Chapter 6: Future Plans and Industry Outlook

Mercy: As a full-time on-chain trader, what are your future plans? Will you continue on-chain trading indefinitely, or do you have other plans?

Cool: First of all, I still want to stay in crypto. Currently, crypto is benefiting from funds flowing in from the U.S. stock market, which is positive for the overall market capitalization and prices in the crypto space. This influx essentially brings the retail traders' money from the U.S. stock market into the crypto space. With various U.S. policies in place, many compliance issues surrounding crypto have been addressed, allowing numerous funds, including pension funds, to participate. Hence, I am very optimistic about the future of cryptocurrency.

Moreover, only a minority of people worldwide currently hold Bitcoin, and the devaluation of fiat currency is inevitable. I believe that in the future, more and more people will embrace Bitcoin and cryptocurrency.

I have always believed in what Saylor said, that if Bitcoin won't go to zero, it will reach $1 million per coin. Looking at the current situation, the fear of it dropping to zero is almost nonexistent because it has the support of governments and sufficient consensus.

As for my long-term plan, I hope to—be able to develop some refined products. Currently, there are many small tools that are very sophisticated, and I hope to have some ideas in the future to create valuable tools myself.

Mercy: Which feature or product of OKX do you use the most?

Cool: I have always found OKX to have a very good product experience, especially since I use my phone a lot, and the experience on the app is excellent. Within the exchange, the features I use the most are spot savings and dual currency.

Web3 is the OKX Wallet, and that goes without saying. The vast majority of my friends I know use the OKX wallet. Functions like multi-wallet management and aggregated trading are basically used every day. I hope OKX continues to improve its wallet; it is already very powerful, and I hope it continues to get better.

Conclusion

In this in-depth conversation, I witnessed the complete journey of a programmer from a traditional internet giant transitioning successfully to a full-time crypto trader. "Cool" used his own experience to tell us that in crypto, real wealth's key is not luck but rather rational thinking, a systematic approach, and continuous learning.

From entering the market at the peak of the 2021 bull run, to experiencing the full baptism of a bear market, and then finding their own trading rhythm in the MEME coin craze, the "calm" trading philosophy—from classifying trades into "good win, bad win, good lose, bad lose," to selecting coins based on "aesthetics," and to strict risk management principles—has provided us with a relatively complete trading mindset.

More importantly, they maintain a clear understanding of the market. Whether analyzing the current illiquidity situation or judging the long-term development trend of cryptocurrency, it reflects the rationality and forward thinking that a mature trader should possess.

As implied by their ID, in this highly emotional market, perhaps "stay calm and calm again" is the best trading philosophy. For newcomers looking to enter this field, small-scale trial and error, building a system, and learning from failures may be more important than pursuing overnight riches.

After all, in the relentless cryptocurrency market, only those who can remain calm can truly grasp their own wealth password. Thanks for the calm, meticulous, and sincere sharing! Here are the friends of OKX, I am the host Mercy, welcome everyone to follow.

Disclaimer: This article is for reference only. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent the position of OKX. This article is not intended to provide (i) investment advice or investment recommendations; (ii) an offer or solicitation to buy, sell, or hold digital assets; (iii) financial, accounting, legal, or tax advice. We do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of such information. Holding digital assets (including stablecoins and NFTs) involves high risks and may experience significant fluctuations. You should carefully consider whether trading or holding digital assets is suitable for your financial situation. For your specific circumstances, please consult your legal/tax/investment professional. You are responsible for understanding and complying with local applicable laws and regulations.

This article is contributed content and does not represent the views of BlockBeats.

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