These past few days, I've been looking at a lot of discussions about $BTC $ETH $SOL's trend, and it reminded me of a question—if someone提醒你 at 2:00 AM that BTC 9440 is a good entry point and 3230 is another, how would you operate?

Suppose you currently hold a long position in BTC, with a profit of $8,000. The secondary market also earned $300. Should you lock in this profit first? This is a classic question.

**Why consider locking in profits?**

Looking at the current chart, the flag pattern consolidation hasn't yet shown a clear breakout direction. There is a CME gap at 915-906 below. Meanwhile, a 5-wave structure has appeared on the 1-hour chart, and the 4-hour RSI is continuously overbought, indicating a technical need for a pullback.

Holding an $8,000 unrealized profit and pulling back $4,000—everyone understands this feeling of regret. But actually locking in profits is like protecting the gains of the long position. What if it breaks out later? Then you can short on the pullback after the breakout—adding longs at 86 and shorts at 94. At this level, a breakout will inevitably lead to a pullback, so there's no need to worry about getting trapped. If it doesn't break out and instead pulls back to 915-906, that just aligns with expectations.

The operation isn't complicated.

**Three common questions**

**No long position, can I only short?**
Theoretically yes, but the trend is still upward. Logically, building a long position at lower levels is more prudent. Purely shorting makes it easy to get stopped out. But if you think you can make money just by blindly going long now, then just stick to the long side.

**No long position and don't want to short, what to do?**
Then patiently wait for this pullback to complete. You can gradually accumulate in the 915-906 range, maintaining about 1-3% of your position. Wait until the sideways consolidation stabilizes, a spike occurs, a secondary low or previous low appears, and divergence signals confirm a pullback before adding positions. This pattern is usually more obvious on the 30-minute or 1-2 hour cycles.

**Already long, can I add to my position?**
It depends on your capital size and current holdings. If you only have 1-3% of your total capital in the position, adding moderately is fine, preferably when secondary signals appear, so you won't be overly anxious. Plus, setting a trailing stop-loss after adding is easier—just move it below the previous low by another $1,000. Usually, after completing the secondary cycle, a quick trend reversal occurs, so you don't have to endure the painful sideways consolidation in the middle.

Market changes rapidly; flexible responses are key.