Author: Alan Crypto

This article is for educational and experience-sharing purposes only and is not investment advice.

1. A Short Introduction From Alan Crypto

Hey there, I’m Alan Crypto. I have known about Blockchain since 2012 and joined in 2015. But it was not until 2019 that I really considered this as my main job! If you have just entered the cryptocurrency market, I guess you have experienced the following feelings:

  • You just bought a coin and the price dumped right after.
  • You completely missed a 30–50% pump that happened in just a few hours.
  • You enter a trade and then stare at the chart every minute, heart racing with every candle.

I’ve been through all of that, and honestly, much worse. What helped me wasn’t some secret “price prediction formula”, but one simple mindset: the Circle of Control.

Once you understand and live by it, you will:

  • Reduce FOMO.
  • Reduce overtrading and blowing up accounts.
  • Stop feeling like “the market is out to get you.”

Let’s walk through this step by step.

2. What Are the 3 Circles of Control in Crypto Trading?

Imagine you have three circles:

  • Circle of Control: Things you fully control.
  • Circle of Influence: Things you cannot fully decide but can influence.
  • Circle of Concern: Things you only know about or worry about, but can’t change.

New traders usually pour 90% of their energy into the Circle of Concern (whether price goes up or down, whether BTC hits 100k, what whales are doing, etc.), while ignoring the Circle of Control – the only place that truly decides whether their account survives.

3. Circle of CONTROL – What You Actually Own

This is the core mindset of a trader who can survive long term.

3.1. Risk & Capital Management

Things you control 100%:

  • Risk per trade (for example: max 1–2% of your account per trade).
  • Daily / weekly loss limits.
  • Whether you use margin/futures, and what max leverage you allow yourself.
  • Whether you always place a stop loss (my suggestion: yes, always).

The market can do whatever it wants, but it can only take as much from you as you allow it to.

3.2. Your Trading System & Plan

You fully control:

  • Which timeframe you trade: scalping, day trading, swing trading, etc.
  • Your setups: breakout, retest, EMA, RSI, volume, price action, and so on.
  • Defining clearly:
    • When you are allowed to enter a trade.
    • When you are .
    • When and how you take profits.

Back then, I used to enter trades “based on a feeling,” and most of those trades ended up as… tuition fees. When I started writing out a clear plan before each trade, my results changed a lot, even though my win rate wasn’t 100%.

3.3. Emotions & Behavior

You control:

  • Not trading when you’re angry, tired, drunk, or sleep-deprived.
  • Not FOMOing into a coin just because it’s pumping and you’re not in it.
  • Stopping for the day when you hit your daily loss limit.

One question I ask myself a lot: “Am I following my plan or my emotions right now?”

3.4. Security & Asset Safety

  • How you split capital: how much stays on exchanges, how much goes into cold wallets.
  • Turning on 2FA, securing your email, not clicking random links.
  • Choosing reputable exchanges and avoiding going all-in on ultra-illiquid coins.

Hacks, rug-pulls, and sudden black swan events are not 100% under your control, but you absolutely control whether you put yourself in highly vulnerable positions or not.

4. Circle of INFLUENCE – Boosting Your Odds, Not Forcing the Market

In this circle, you don’t control the final outcome, but you can increase the probability of good outcomes.

4.1. Quality of Your Analysis

  • Learning technical analysis: support/resistance, trendlines, chart patterns, indicators.
  • Understanding sentiment: news, on-chain data, capital flows, funding rates, etc.
  • Filtering information: prioritizing reputable sources, staying away from random “signal” groups.

I can’t make BTC listen to me, but I can become someone who reads the market better each day.

4.2. Your Environment & Community

  • Choosing groups and communities that share genuine knowledge, not just “ape this coin now.”
  • Learning from traders with a clear, transparent track record and solid risk mindset.
  • Building your own trade journal so you don’t rely 100% on others.

4.3. Tools & Products You Use

  • Using exchanges with reasonable fees and spreads.
  • Using limit orders to reduce slippage.
  • Using alerts or bots (if you understand them well) instead of watching charts 24/7.

None of this guarantees you’ll win every trade, but it definitely pulls you toward having an edge compared to pure emotion-based trading.

5. Circle of CONCERN – Things You Should Know, But Not Cling To

This is where most beginners get stuck: they spend 80% of their time consuming things they can’t control.

Typical examples:

  • Exactly what BTC/ETH will do in the next few hours.
  • What Elon Musk or some big KOL might tweet next.
  • What whales are secretly planning behind the orderbook.
  • “When is the next bull run?” “Will BTC go to 100k?”

It all sounds exciting, but you don’t control any of it. I used to spend hours staring at charts and refreshing news, and eventually realized:

The more I tried to predict the future, the more I ignored the one thing I actually needed to do:
manage risk and stick to my system.

Knowing what’s going on is good, but keep it at the level of observation. Don’t let it become an obsession.

6. A 4-Step Process for Every Trade – Alan Crypto Style

Here’s a personalized checklist I use. You can copy it and adjust it to fit your style:

6.1. Step 1 – Before Entering: Sort Things Into 3 Circles

  • Write down the reason for the trade (which setup, on which timeframe).
  • Ask yourself:
    • What do I actually control in this trade? (position size, SL, TP, leverage, etc.)
    • What am I worrying about that belongs to the Circle of Concern? (fear of missing out, fear of reversal, etc.)

6.2. Step 2 – Create a Clear Plan

Before pressing the button, I always have:

  • Entry: …
  • Stop loss: … (corresponding to max X% of my account)
  • TP1, TP2: …
  • Leverage: … (if using)

Rule: After entering, I don’t move my SL lower, and I never all-in to “win it back.”

6.3. Step 3 – While the Trade Is Running

  • Don’t stare at every tick; use alerts if needed.
  • You’re allowed to:
    • Move SL to breakeven once price has moved far enough in your favor.
    • Take partial profits according to your plan.
  • If you feel like doing something “off-plan,” ask yourself: “Am I in my Circle of Control or trying to control the market?”

6.4. Step 4 – After Closing: Judge the Process, Not Just P&L

  • A winning trade that breaks your rules is still a bad trade.
  • A losing trade that fully respects your system and risk rules is still a good trade.
  • Write 1–2 short notes in your journal:
    • What did I do well in the Circle of Control?
    • Where did I get dragged into the Circle of Concern?

7. Final Thoughts: Let the Market Be the Market, You Own the Risk

As someone who has paid a fair amount of “tuition” to this market, I’ve realized that the biggest difference between traders who stay and those who quit is not about finding “the perfect setup,” but about:

  • Who spends more time in their Circle of Control.
  • Who can accept that things in the Circle of Concern are simply unknowable and uncontrollable.

If you’re new, I’d love for you to remember this line from me, Alan Crypto:

The crypto market doesn’t exist to make you feel comfortable.
But your Circle of Control exists so you don’t destroy your own account.

Trade safe, and think long term. Remember: this is a game of discipline and risk management, not a contest to see who can guess the future.