Five years passed in the blink of an eye

1. I first came into contact with the market about five years ago during a high school evening self-study session. Out of boredom, I downloaded an app called Tiger and made my first simulated trade that night. I can't remember if the initial capital was 10,000 or 100,000, but I do remember leveraging gold trades during one class period and making a 10% profit. At the time, I was ecstatic thinking money was so easy to make.

2. The second time was when I turned 18 during the summer of 2021 after graduating high school. I bought my first fund, Western China Carbon Neutrality, and got lucky—it rose over 10% shortly after purchase. I sold just before those gains disappeared, making a profit on the fund.

3. The third time I entered the A-share market was in late July 2022 during summer break. I registered with East Money and bought my first stock, Tus Environmental. There was an issue—my bank card was linked to my school account, which hadn't been used for a long time, causing delays in fund transfers. I missed the early phase of the environmental sector rally and ended up buying at the tail end, suffering losses after a few days of declines. Then the market crashed in the second half of the year—whatever I bought kept falling, so I cooled off.

4. During National Day in 2022, I stayed in my dorm and spent seven days reading "Money That Walks" by Bayfamily. I learned about index funds in the U.S. market, particularly the S&P 500 ETF, and finally understood the greatness of U.S. stocks and some aspects of cryptocurrencies. I looked into how to trade real U.S. stocks but found out I needed to open an account in Hong Kong, which I couldn't do due to school. Around November that year, I bought 3x Long Semiconductor ETF at around $11 in a Tiger demo account and still haven't sold it. Later, I applied these lessons to 白酒 (baijiu), the Hang Seng Index, and new energy ETFs from January to May 2024, making a 20% profit.

5. In the summer of 2023, I interned in Shanghai. It was my first job, and it was exhausting—way more than I expected. Around September, I got into Binance. Not wanting to drift through life working day after day, I fell into the trap of futures trading. Looking back now, BTC was dirt cheap at around $25,000, but I got liquidated during a volatile swing trade in October. I remember staying up late after National Day, watching the price hover just above liquidation before finally going to sleep. Waking up to the margin call email actually felt like a relief.

6. Early in 2024, stubbornly, I returned to Binance. I thought splitting my funds—half in Bitcoin, half in futures—was brilliant. But when margin calls came, I sold my Bitcoin to cover losses without hesitation. Then WLD's sudden pump wiped me out completely.

7. After another Binance liquidation, I went to Shenzhen in April and then Hong Kong. I opened an HSBC account in the morning, then spent half a day visiting Bank of China branches across half of Hong Kong—all appointments were booked. Finally, I found a remote branch to open an account. As dusk fell, I visited Victoria Harbour (I think that's the name) and had some expensive beef brisket noodles before taking the high-speed train back to Shenzhen.

8. Around May 2024, I activated IB and Longbridge accounts. IB's interface was mediocre, but I stuck with it. My first U.S. stock was UNG (natural gas), which I'd researched during my Shenzhen trip—it had 20% upside potential. I also bought BGXX for a quick profit but held too long; now it's OTC. I only started using Longbridge around April this year—way better than the others. I've made some money there, and my IB account is also profitable.

Step by step, I've come a long way—slow yet fast. I've traded natural gas at highs and lows, witnessed the rise and fall of China's new energy sector, and survived crypto's 2024 rollercoaster. I saw Nasdaq's late-2022 rebound. The best outcome, I've realized, is simply surviving steadily in the market.