Introduction
In the 7×24 hour non-stop global financial market of cryptocurrency, ordinary people can achieve financial freedom overnight, but they can also lose everything in an instant. Over the past year, the MEME market has witnessed countless myths of thousands or even tens of thousands of times returns, but in this world full of opportunities and risks, what kind of person can truly grasp the wealth code?
Today, we have invited a guest whose achievements are well-known but who remains very low-key. He was once a programmer at ByteDance and is now a full-time on-chain trader with an enormous amount of crypto assets. More importantly, his name is quite special—"Stay Calm, Stay Calm, Stay Calm."
In the extremely emotional market of Crypto, what does rationality and calmness really mean? What kind of mental journey is required to transition from a speculative mindset to a trading mindset? When the wild fluctuations of MEME coins test everyone's psychological endurance, what kind of trading philosophy can help a person stay clear-headed amidst the volatility?
Let us step into the world of this mysterious trader and explore his wealth code and trading philosophy.
In this episode, the friends from OKX are in conversation with the guest: Stay Calm, Stay Calm, Stay Calm, interviewer: Mercy, welcome everyone to follow along!
Chapter One: From ByteDance Programmer to On-Chain Trader
Mercy: Could you please start with a brief self-introduction?
Stay Calm: Hello everyone, I am Stay Calm. Friends who play on-chain should know me to some extent. I created an ENS address name "Stay Calm, Stay Calm, Stay Calm" when I was playing with Ethereum NFTs. I’ve somewhat forgotten why I suddenly chose this name; perhaps it was because I was too caught up in buying too many Pi Xiu and withdrawing liquidity at that time, and I wanted to calm myself down. Many people followed me on Twitter through my address.
Along the way, I have achieved decent returns on many coins on-chain, and during last year's Solana MEME market, I also became one of the leading figures on-chain.
Mercy: You mentioned on Twitter that you previously worked at ByteDance. What prompted you to enter the crypto space?
Stay Calm: I got into Crypto at the peak of the bull market in 2021 while I was still working at ByteDance. I heard some stories of people getting rich in Crypto from conversations with colleagues. At that time, I had just bought a house and was under financial pressure, so I was eager to participate and asked my colleagues to add me to a few trading groups.
At that time, I never imagined that I would later resign to trade coins full-time and even achieve financial freedom. I just thought it was a trading opportunity and wanted to explore whether I could make money. So, I started getting involved in the crypto space in my spare time. Although I wasn't full-time, I participated in most of the hot topics on-chain over the past two to three years, including NFTs, Ethereum MEME, and the Solana MEME that started last year.
During this process, I transformed from a novice into a more experienced on-chain player, but I also missed many opportunities because I couldn't trade full-time. To be honest, there were quite a few opportunities for ordinary users to make money on-chain in the past few years.
Mercy: What ultimately made you decide to resign from ByteDance and enter the crypto space full-time?
Stay Calm: I decided to resign from ByteDance to trade coins full-time mainly because the market was too good in the second half of last year, and I felt it was hard to balance both. During that time, I often had to wake up at 4-5 AM to monitor the market, then go to work at around 9 AM, and after returning home, I would sit in front of the computer trading coins for another one to two hours before going to bed around 10 PM. I felt extremely exhausted.
Friends often asked me when I would resign because during that time, the profits from a single Dogecoin trade could exceed my annual salary. However, I felt that although I had made some money, I wasn't entirely comfortable resigning, especially since my Web2 salary was still quite good.
The turning point that made me decide to resign from ByteDance and join the crypto space full-time was in November last year when I encountered PNUT. I had always liked this narrative and researched its market cap ranking in the spot MEME market, discovering it was second or third from the bottom, with narratives and popularity far inferior to it.
I judged that buying it had a high safety margin and a low probability of significant loss, so I heavily invested in it. At that time, I sold about 20 BTC and bought it all.
What happened next is well-known; the next day, Musk tweeted that PNUT, this MEME coin, saved America. Such direct mentions of MEME coins in tweets are quite rare. I remember the market sentiment was also very good, and it skyrocketed from over 300 million to around 1.5 billion, and then after another night, it reached 2.5 billion, which meant I could have made about 7 times my investment at the peak. I later sold out when it dropped to 1.8 billion, but I had already made my first big profit, and with that capital, I resigned and entered the crypto space full-time.
Mercy: How do you think your work experience at ByteDance has influenced your subsequent full-time on-chain trading?
Stay Calm: When I worked at ByteDance, I was a programmer, and I also studied computer science. I think a significant influence is that my English is quite good, and I can quickly understand technology and narratives, which helps me grasp trading habits more rationally and not be easily swayed by others.
Mercy: What are the differences between full-time on-chain trading and working at a big company?
Stay Calm: There's no going back, really. I really like a line from a song in the California Hotel: "You can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave." Once you get used to the tense yet free life of Crypto, it's hard to return to a routine life.
Especially from the second half of last year until the time when Trump launched his coin, the adrenaline rush from the on-chain activities made many other things seem dull. The significant difference between full-time on-chain trading and working at a big company is that you are entirely responsible for yourself; your income and future are entirely in your own hands, not in the hands of a boss.
So, when the market is good, it can be more intense, but the difficulty and amount of making money in the crypto market can vary greatly, so I feel it's entirely voluntary. After getting up, I feel excited to sit in front of the computer and see if there are any opportunities, and I might sit there all day with very little sleep, but I don't feel extremely tired.
It's also more flexible; for example, if you've made money recently and want to take a break, that's completely fine, and no one will assess you. The choice of lifestyle depends on personal character; I prefer the lifestyle that Crypto offers.
Chapter Two: Cultivating and Transforming Trading Mindset
Mercy: Your Twitter bio mentions "quitting my gambling addiction." Could you share why you included that in your bio?
Stay Calm: Actually, after a certain moment following the Trump coin, I felt satisfied with the returns from this round and thought it was time to stop trading with large positions. After all, money can be earned endlessly, but it can also be lost completely, so I felt it was appropriate to lower the risk. Of course, I won't exit the space; I will continue to play on-chain.
Before changing to this bio, I remember my previous bio was: "A 29 years old man with millions of dollars and a gambling addiction." I used to have a high-risk preference, as you can see from my previous heavy investment in PNUT, but once the capital amount increased, I felt I shouldn't continue like that, so I changed it to my current bio.
Mercy: What was your biggest profit or loss during your trading process?
Stay Calm: My biggest profit was from Trump coin, where I made about 23 million. As for losses, I generally cut losses, and I rarely take particularly large positions on-chain. I also don't trade on exchanges with altcoins, so losing 50,000 to 60,000 USDT is quite significant for me.
The most I remember losing was over 200,000 USDT on the Argentine president's Libra, but at that time, I had just made some money from Trump, so it didn't feel too significant. If I were to lose over 200,000 USDT now, I would feel heartbroken for a few days. Because making money now is really difficult, there's a saying that goes, "Always thinking opportunities are limitless, so never cherishing the good days in front of you."
Mercy: How do you manage your mindset when facing huge profits/losses?
Stay Calm: I always feel that I should make more when I earn and lose less when I lose. I never care about the win rate; I mainly look at the position size. In terms of mindset management, I am still learning, and I currently have a few points:
The first point is related to everyone's capital and risk preference. I will buy a position that I can comfortably sleep with, where "comfortable" means—losing it all is okay.
The second is to buy coins that I genuinely believe in and find interesting, rather than following others or buying just because I see someone else buying.
Finally, having my own trading strategy and plan, such as deciding at what market cap to take profits. I think a foreign KOL, Alien Cat, expressed this particularly well; he said a trade can be divided into good win, bad win, good lose, and bad lose.
Good win means you see the trend and potential earlier than others, have your own viewpoint, and the market indeed aligns with your perspective, and in the end, you achieve the desired profit. This kind of victory is worth celebrating.
Bad win means you just randomly invested or followed someone else's lead; someone bought a coin, but you got lucky, like Musk suddenly replying to that coin, or you didn't understand the technology, but it turned out to be very impressive. This kind of victory can be enjoyed, but we shouldn't pursue it.
Good lose means you followed your trading system and theory, but ultimately it didn't succeed. There may have been some uncontrollable events, or the market simply disagreed with your viewpoint. I have actually had quite a few good loses in the past few months, but I don't see any problem with that. For example, there are many assets on various platforms that don't align with my aesthetic, and I don't feel regretful for missing those coins. There are also some coins I like that ultimately didn't perform well, leading to no profits; I find these situations acceptable.
The last one is bad lose, which means your trading was driven by emotions, and you didn't adhere to your trading system, resulting in a cost. This kind of failure is what we need to avoid.
Chapter Three: Trading System and Coin Selection Philosophy
Mercy: How did you establish your trading system?
Stay Calm: Trading is usually divided into several steps. The first step is to discover opportunities. This step requires you to collect and build some wallet addresses that can provide you with trading signals, as well as find some quality information sources, such as Twitter users or Alpha groups. Regarding wallet addresses, it's important to note that no matter who buys in, it can only serve as a reference for yourself; whether to buy or not depends on your own judgment. Blindly following anyone is a negative EV operation.
Regarding Twitter users and Alpha groups, it's essential to identify which content is valuable. On-chain players are relatively easy to verify; you just need to look at their actual wallet address's profit situation. The saying goes, "Talk is cheap, show me the wallet." I think one of the easiest traps for beginners is that many people on Twitter indeed seek traffic to take ads or open paid groups, but remember that wallet addresses are always the best verification method.
After discovering opportunities, the second step is to determine whether to buy in. How do you make that judgment? It needs to be combined with the aesthetic judgment of MEME coin narratives mentioned earlier. However, aesthetics are very subjective, yet I believe they are crucial, especially when liquidity is good. Because many coins are launched on-chain every day, you need your own standards to quickly assess whether to buy a token.
Now, I might spend only one or two minutes looking at whether to buy in and make a judgment immediately. So, I think this aesthetic is quite difficult to quantify; it often heavily relies on a person's experiential intuition. If you want to cultivate your aesthetic, you should look and play more, engage with interesting coins and things, and spend less energy on so-called junk coins and manipulated coins, gradually developing your ability to understand narratives.
Mercy: You mentioned on Twitter that your choice of MEME coins is based on aesthetics, which is an interesting statement. Why do you consider this as one of the criteria for selecting targets?
Stay Calm: I previously tried to quantify some aesthetic standards, and now I’ll share with you which coins I am willing to buy:
The first is technological innovation. Technological innovation doesn't need to be significant or perfect, but it must have some innovation; it can't be a complete copy, as that would be very cheap.
The second is a MEME with the potential for widespread dissemination. This requires attention to endorsements from celebrities and large companies. For example: Ghibli. It is actually a style of images launched by ChatGPT that went viral on Twitter; this kind of MEME has the potential for widespread dissemination because it has the backing of a large company. Here, the endorsement does not refer to coins issued by large companies, as most MEME coins are opportunistic; it refers to the technology or trend led by a celebrity or large company, which significantly increases the probability of widespread dissemination.
The third is cult-like (cult) coins. Cult coins are like SPX or Milady, or like Hippo, Bitcoin (the Harry Potter coin). Many coins on Murad's (English-speaking leading trader) list belong to this cult category.
The characteristics of these coins are: first, they will eventually form a strong community; second, they generally do not have a quick turnover and will undergo a long period of consolidation. Therefore, you need to be able to hold on and immerse yourself in the community to understand and identify with their culture.
Another category is projects released by other companies with low market caps. For example, a project that launches suddenly or is a pre-heating round, but it gets heavily targeted by snipers at the opening, leading to a massive sell-off at the start, giving you an entry opportunity at a low market cap.
Due to the unreasonable pricing at the opening, these projects can often rise significantly in a short time. After one or two days of hype, the price difference will quickly be erased, ultimately returning to its rightful market cap. This kind of money is actually more suitable for on-chain players to seize because any sudden hot trend or project launch from other companies can be captured by on-chain players, allowing them to make a lot of money in a short time, which we all prefer.
Finally, there are MEMEs that make you want to laugh at first glance. This depends on each person's understanding of MEMEs. Previously, there was a masked dog on Base that I found very funny; in a video, the dog wearing a mask looks at you. This kind of MEME is also something I like.
The above points are what I call my aesthetic standards. Of course, when I see a coin, I won't strictly apply these standards; many times, I rely on my intuition, but that intuition ultimately may fall into these categories.
Mercy: How do you generally set stop-losses?
Stay Calm: There are a few situations. One is monitoring the project's Twitter to see its progress. If I feel that the project's Twitter statements are not to my liking or its progress is not meeting expectations, I might sell even if it means taking a loss.
Another situation is when I feel that the hot trend has shifted; in this case, I would also sell at a loss. Additionally, if I see the project team engaging in insider trading, I might sell then as well. Finally, if I discover a coin that may have more upside potential, I might shift my position from one coin to another.
Chapter Four: Current Market Environment and Investment Strategy
Mercy: Recently, many full-time on-chain traders feel that after TRUMP, the on-chain market has become increasingly difficult to navigate, and the ceiling for MEME coins is not as high as before. How do you think one should operate in the current market?
Stay Calm: The Trump coin was definitely the peak of on-chain liquidity because the months leading up to its launch were already the golden age of on-chain.
At that time, coins like MOODENG, NEIRO, GOAT, AI on Solana, and HIPPO made it feel very common for a coin to reach 50 million; it was even common for it to rise to 50 million or 70 million in a single day. No one was saying to look for manipulators; we could see good narratives naturally rising. Many people had already made quite a bit of money during that time.
In the past six months, on-chain liquidity has indeed worsened significantly. On one hand, Trump has drawn away liquidity, and on the other hand, there are indeed fewer narratives than last year, which leads to lower ceilings for these coins. With lower ceilings, whales are certainly unwilling to enter, creating a vicious cycle, making everyone feel that it is very difficult to play.
Now, many coins that can rise are highly controlled, which is unavoidable. I think the most ideal situation for on-chain in the future is to have a brand new Meta because the funds are currently in the secondary market, so the money is still there; people still have money in hand, and secondary players actually have quite a bit of money. What is lacking is a brand new on-chain Meta, similar to how GOAT drove AI agents, which could attract incremental funds and subsequently bring about a good wealth effect; otherwise, every day on-chain is just PVP.
But what kind of gameplay will emerge afterward, I can't predict myself, but the current market cannot be too grand. For example, many coins recently seem very interesting to me; their narratives could reach 80 million or 100 million, but they struggle to rise past 30 million. At such times, you need to adjust your psychological expectations.
Mercy: You shared on Twitter that you bought a lot of ETH around 2200, which seems to be a correct investment. I want to know why you decided to buy a large amount of Ethereum at that time? How do you balance the difference between long-term investments and short-term MEME trading?
Stay Calm: At that time, I mainly thought that ETH at over 2000 was a bear market price, which was indeed very cheap. ETH has characteristics of decentralization and censorship resistance, giving it a strong moat compared to other coins. However, at that time, there wasn't the current wave of stablecoin hype, and ETH ETFs hadn't been approved yet.
As it turned out, these trends were actually insignificant in the face of Wall Street's capital, and Wall Street's storytelling ability is indeed strong.
Regarding long-term investments, before the Trump coin, I was fully invested in BTC on exchanges. Every time I made money on-chain, I would buy BTC, and when I needed money, I would sell BTC. It was entirely BTC-centric; all my operations aimed to acquire more BTC.
However, after the Trump coin, I allocated some funds to stablecoin investments because if I was fully invested in BTC, I would unconsciously want to watch the price, and its volatility would affect my mood.
Previously, I thought ETH lacked the driving force of US stocks and didn't have strong demand on-chain, so it might not be a good store of value. Therefore, I was entirely BTC-centric. Now, that has changed a bit; ETH has received external capital injection. I know many people choose to hold ETH, but for me, I'm not particularly interested in ETH, so currently, apart from USDT, I still prefer to hold BTC.
Chapter Five: Risk Management and Advice for New Full-Time Traders
Mercy: How do you view and manage the uncertainties of full-time on-chain trading?
Stay Calm: I think before truly engaging in full-time trading, you need to consider two points:
The first is whether you have a consistent and stable ability to make money. Moreover, the money earned through this ability should indeed be significantly greater than what you earn from a job. Because you are taking on more risks, if the money you earn is not more than your job or is about the same, it doesn't make much sense. If you can't make money before going full-time, then it's highly likely you won't make money in the crypto space after going full-time. At that point, it would be better to work while improving your skills and only resign when your job truly hinders you from earning more money.
The second is that you need to have some savings. This is mainly to ensure that if the market suddenly turns bad or if a family emergency arises, you have the financial backing. It's best to have at least one to two years' worth of daily expenses saved up.
Mercy: Are there any mistakes that new traders looking to enter the crypto space full-time should definitely avoid?
Stay Calm: At this stage, with poor on-chain liquidity, new traders can start with small amounts to experiment and gradually build a positive EV trading system that can achieve stable profits.
Stability does not mean having a very high win rate or making money on every trade, but rather looking at the longer term. For example, over a week or a month, even if there are losses and gains, the overall profit should be positive. If you can make money even when liquidity is poor now, then when on-chain liquidity returns, you will be able to showcase your skills.
Mistakes that new traders should avoid: First, they should know that there are many opportunities in blockchain, and they should avoid FOMO and chasing highs. New traders typically have limited capital, and chasing highs makes it difficult to hold on; if it fails, it will affect their mindset.
The second common mistake new traders make is following others' trades. They must avoid blindly following others; many people like to follow KOLs or smart money. This makes it hard to improve their own skills because simply following others does not cultivate the ability to independently discover projects.
Mercy: Following others' trades often leads to losses; only after losing enough by following others will one realize the need for independent judgment.
Stay Calm: Yes, it might be that they follow once or twice and make money, then feel pleased with themselves, but later it turns into continuous losses.
Because the leading trader has their own judgment; they might experience consecutive losses during a period, but they could make a big profit on the next trade. However, new traders with small capital might lose four or five times in a row and lose patience, or they might have lost most of their money, at which point they will stop following. But the leading trader might achieve significant gains on the next trade, and you would miss out.
Mercy: Do you feel there are any similarities or differences between NFTs and MEME coins during your entry into the space?
Stay Calm: NFTs and MEME coins are indeed quite different.
The liquidity and wealth effect of NFTs at that time were far inferior to that of MEME coins. In terms of liquidity, NFTs often struggle to sell a project, while MEME coins can be easily dumped. Earning two or three dozen ETH from an NFT project is already a lot; even at current prices, that's only about 100,000 USDT. It seems that many people earn 100,000 USDT from MEME coins daily, so there is a significant difference in wealth effect.
Moreover, for us primary players, the cost of NFTs is fair; for example, during the minting phase, everyone's cost is the same. However, for MEME coins, if you follow someone else's trade, your cost might be double theirs because they can directly cash out. Therefore, the difficulty level for MEME coins is much higher.
For project teams, the requirements for NFTs are also higher; the project team at least needs to create artwork and manage operations. In contrast, the project team for MEME coins can simply click a few buttons without any cost.
Chapter Six: Future Plans and Industry Outlook
Mercy: As a full-time on-chain trader, what are your future plans? Will you continue to do on-chain trading, or do you have other plans?
Stay Calm: First of all, I want to stay in the crypto space. Currently, crypto is being driven by funds from the US stock market, which is good for the overall capital and prices in the crypto world. It's like bringing retail investors' money from the US stock market into the crypto space. The various policies in the US have cleared up many compliance issues for crypto, allowing many funds, including pensions, to participate. Therefore, I am very optimistic about the future of cryptocurrencies.
Moreover, the number of people worldwide who own Bitcoin is still a minority, and the devaluation of fiat currency is inevitable. I believe that more and more people will embrace Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in the future.
I have always believed in what Saylor said: if Bitcoin does not go to zero, it will reach one million dollars per coin. Now, the concern about it going to zero has almost disappeared because it has government support and sufficient consensus.
Regarding my long-term plans, I hope to create some refined products. There are many small tools out there that are very elegant, and I hope to have some ideas to create valuable tools in the future.
Mercy: Which features or products of OKX do you use the most?
Stay Calm: I have always found the product experience of OKX to be very good, especially since I use my phone a lot; the app experience is excellent. The features I use the most on the exchange are the flexible wealth management and dual currency win.
For Web3, it's the OKX Wallet, which goes without saying; most of my friends use the OKX wallet. Many features, such as multi-wallet management and aggregated trading, are used almost daily. I hope OKX continues to improve the wallet; it’s already impressive, and I hope it gets even better.
Conclusion
In this in-depth conversation, I witnessed the complete journey of someone who successfully transitioned from a programmer at a traditional internet giant to a full-time crypto trader. "Stay Calm" shares with us through his personal experience that the true wealth code in crypto is not luck, but rational thinking, systematic methods, and continuous learning.
From entering the market at the peak of the bull market in 2021, experiencing the full baptism of the bear market, to finding his trading rhythm in the MEME coin wave, "Stay Calm's" trading philosophy—from categorizing trades as "good win, bad win, good lose, bad lose," to selecting coins based on "aesthetics," and then to strict risk management principles—provides us with a relatively complete trading mindset framework.
More importantly, he maintains a clear understanding of the market. Whether analyzing the current lack of liquidity or judging the long-term development trends of cryptocurrencies, it reflects the rationality and foresight that a mature trader should possess.
As his ID suggests, in this extremely emotional market, "Stay Calm, Stay Calm, and Stay Calm" may be the best trading philosophy. For newcomers wanting to enter this field, small-scale trial and error, building a system, and learning from failures may be more important than pursuing overnight wealth.
After all, in the ever-active cryptocurrency market, only those who can remain calm can truly master their own wealth code. Thank you, Stay Calm, for your detailed and sincere sharing! This is Mercy from OKX, and I welcome everyone to follow us.
Disclaimer: This article is for reference only. The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not represent the position of OKX. This article does not intend to provide (i) investment advice or recommendations; (ii) offers or solicitations 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 fluctuate significantly. You should carefully consider whether trading or holding digital assets is suitable for you based on your financial situation. Please consult your legal/tax/investment professionals regarding your specific circumstances. You are responsible for understanding and complying with applicable local laws and regulations.
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