At 1 a.m., a voice message from my childhood friend drifted in, still carrying sleepiness in its tone: "Bro, are you staring at the market again in the middle of the night?"

I didn’t look up: "BTC hit 92k, I caught the order at 91.8k."

The screen refreshed, +7%. Yesterday’s losses were instantly wiped out.

Don’t think this is just luck. This "Night Owl Survival Manual" is the blood, sweat, and tears experience I’ve gained through eight years of trial and error and twelve margin calls. Today, I’ll lay out all the essentials and give them to you for free.

**First: Watch the Big Coin’s Face**

In the 2025 market cycle, BTC controls 62% of the market cap. If it sneezes, the whole market catches a cold.

Last Wednesday, BTC dropped 4% in one hour, and SOL was dragged down 9%. Since then, I’ve learned to be smart—main holdings stay with BTC and ETH, other coins are just lottery tickets. Win, and it’s joyful; lose, and I don’t mind.

**Second: Treat Global Time Zones as K-line Charts**

A sell-off during Asian lunch? Don’t panic, I’ve seen it many times. The real sharp moves often happen when New York opens.

December 9th, that Monday left a deep impression—ETH fell 5% during the day, but at 9 p.m. Eastern Time, a big bullish candle swallowed the previous bearish one, and it surged 6.3%. The buy-the-dip order I placed the night before paid off, and I slept especially well that night.

**Third: Midnight 12 to 1 a.m. is the "Ghost Gate"**

Liquidity dries up during this time, with only 40% of daily volume, and the price swings are fierce. Last night, BTC was pushed straight from 94k down to 91k—a classic V-shaped dip.

My strategy is to reduce leverage before bed—drop from 3x to 1x, widen stop-loss by 200 points. When the price was actually pushed down, I didn’t get margin called or wake up in panic; instead, I woke up with a small profit.

**Fourth: Emotions from 6 to 8 a.m. are crucial**

Two mornings in a row, I closed with a bearish candle at 6 a.m.? The chance of a rebound is often around 68%. But if there’s a pump overnight and another in the morning, it’s usually just a trap—up to 90% probability.

Last Thursday, I avoided a -18% crash of PEPE using this trick. Almost got caught, but escaped.

**Fifth: Don’t mess around on Friday**

Non-farm payroll data plus ETF approval can double volatility. Last Friday, BTC’s daily fluctuation reached 8.4%, a market that easily sends high-leverage traders to liquidation.

I promptly turned off high leverage and only traded short-term spot positions, ending up with a steady 4% profit. Living is more important than chasing quick gains.

**Sixth: "Dead Coins" Can Also Turn Around**

As long as the 24-hour trading volume stays above 1 million USDT, even if it drops 30%, it can recover about 15% over the next three days.

In November, I bought LDO this way, and it rebounded 22% in three days, all thanks to the volume still supporting it.

**Final Ramblings**

Spot trading is like aged wine—the longer you store it, the more valuable it becomes; contracts are like instant noodles—best to toss after three minutes.

Don’t be fooled by those "wealth screenshots" in groups—most are just survivor bias. The real logic of making money is: stick to your rhythm, turn every sleepless night into experience points, and let the market pay you hourly.

The hardest part of trading isn’t catching the bottom or selling the top, but staying sane during losses and not getting reckless during profits. I’ve been through this in eight years, and I hope you can avoid some detours.