This week I saw a headline that honestly made my stomach drop:
“$3.7B in crypto longs liquidated.”

As someone who’s still new in this space, that number felt unreal.
Billions. Gone. Just like that.
And the way the media framed it, it sounded like the entire crypto market was collapsing in real time.

At first, I froze.
If the professionals are getting wiped out… what chance do I have as a beginner who’s still trying to understand half the terminology?

But after sitting with it for a bit, reading more, and watching how people reacted, I realized this giant liquidation event actually taught me a few important lessons:

A huge portion of that $3.7B wasn’t people buying crypto normally —
it was traders using massive leverage, betting big, and getting blown out when the market turned.

As a beginner, I finally understood why experienced people say:
“If you don’t fully understand leverage, don’t touch it.”
It’s not a tool for learning — it’s a tool for getting humbled.

This was a big mental shift for me.
Liquidations are traders getting forced out — not crypto disappearing.

It’s like watching a forest fire and thinking the entire planet is on fire.
It looks dramatic… but it’s not the whole story.

I used to think crypto going down = something is fundamentally broken.
Now I’m realizing:
Crypto goes up hard → people over-leverage → market corrects → over-leveraged traders get wiped → everyone panics.

It’s a cycle.
A violent one.
But a cycle.

What surprised me most is how the “smart money” reacted —
in other words, they didn’t.

No screaming. No panicking.
Some even bought more during the dip.

That told me something important:
Beginners read headlines.
Veterans read the charts.

I don’t pretend to understand everything yet.
But moments like this remind me why I’m here:
to learn, to stay curious, and to build my own understanding instead of letting fear or headlines make decisions for me.

Watching $3.7B get liquidated was intense… but it also made me sharper.
More aware.
Less naive.

And weirdly enough — it made me more committed.

Because if I can learn through the chaos,
maybe I’ll deserve the calm when it finally comes back.