Stop gambling within the framework of fortune telling.

First article of the year.

Human nature compels us to act immediately when faced with challenges, as if action alone can dispel our anxiety about the unknown. The real pitfall is that our rapid actions often don’t match the resources we commit. Most people act simply to relieve anxiety, which is a form of false diligence. When your pace of action outstrips the precision of your thinking, you’re no longer investing—you’re gambling. Tactical effort masks strategic laziness.

This is a universal issue. The ability to confront it directly and craft effective solutions is what truly distinguishes individuals from one another.

Always remember: Think before you act.

Step One: Discover Your Unique Edge

0xlykt previously published two articles on “Finding Edge.”

https://0xlykt.substack.com/p/finding-edge

https://0xlykt.substack.com/p/finding-edge-part-2-table-selection

I recommend reading both articles before continuing.

In essence, 0xlykt offers a framework designed to help everyday participants identify opportunities in today’s crypto markets. The core principle is to encourage market participants to proactively select tables that suit them—where there are plenty of “fish”—and compete there.

Still, I find these articles useful as references, but their approach is high-barrier, single-path, and overly idealistic. They don’t fit everyone.

In practice, I believe you can use conversations with AI to identify an effective path tailored to you. As @Wuhuoqiu said, “AI isn’t a cognitive equalizer, but a cognitive leverage amplifier.”

Prompt engineering is personal, but the core is analysis and extension. Dissect your character, cognition, and skills framework to extend actionable strategies and details for different scenarios.

Don’t ask AI how to make money or whether to buy or sell. Instead, share your thought process and current status with AI.

Discuss with AI:

• Your childhood, personality, interests, and formative experiences;
• Your investment history and lessons learned, and your outlook for the future;
• The assets you favor, your holdings and rationale, and your intended holding period;
• Opportunities you missed and why.

Keep in mind, AI tends to echo your statements, so you need to identify unclear or questionable points in its responses and continue probing. Remind AI not to just agree with you—ask it to challenge you with reasoned arguments.

This dialogue is, in essence, a confrontation between your outward and inner selves. It should be adversarial, not merely agreeable.

Your advantages and potential edges will naturally surface through these conversations. Using AI for elimination is far more efficient than relying solely on personal reflection and trial. What follows is your ability to execute and capitalize on your edge.

Step Two: Build a Systematic Execution Framework

Identifying your edge is fundamentally about finding your profit direction. But once you have a direction, the job isn’t done. You need to keep pushing forward and construct a systematic framework for execution.

The core objective of this framework is to enable agile responses in a dynamic market—adapting quickly to changing conditions and new opportunities.

Review and summary are at the heart of building such a framework.

For example,

If you had analyzed the price action of $AERO (launch, Coinbase spot listing, timing of the rally, etc.), you wouldn’t have missed the surge in $ZORA. Both trades reflect Coinbase’s core business needs: $AERO was tied to the Cancun upgrade, and Coinbase needed to drive up $AERO’s price to channel liquidity into Base. Likewise, $ZORA fits Coinbase’s strategy, as the company is betting on Base App and Creator Coins. Zora is a key component in the next phase of Base, and Coinbase needed to boost $ZORA to expand the influence of Base and Creator Coins. In my view, the nature of the opportunities in $AERO and $ZORA is fundamentally the same.

Reviewing and summarizing isn’t just about drawing lessons from each trade. It’s about extracting the underlying logic from individual cases and converting it into a reusable decision model: signal identification → logic validation → execution entry.

Final Thoughts

To put it simply: know yourself. Most trading pain stems from a mismatch between your personality and your positions. Let go of the all-powerful fantasy—everyone has limits. You can’t have everything. Find or develop your unique edge, then leverage that edge and the capabilities you build around it to generate returns.

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year!

Statement:

1. This article is reprinted from [0xSleepinRain]. Copyright belongs to the original author [0xSleepinRain]. If you have concerns about this reprint, please contact the Gate Learn team, and we will address it promptly according to our procedures.
2. Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not constitute investment advice.
3. Other language versions of this article are translated by the Gate Learn team. Without explicit mention of Gate, do not copy, distribute, or plagiarize the translated content.