--- title: "The most cruel required course in investing: All great achievers have once died." type: "Topics" locale: "en" url: "https://longbridge.com/en/topics/43235029.md" description: "There is a truth in the investment circle that no one is willing to admit, yet it is incredibly real: losses are never an investment mistake, but rather a mandatory course in investing. To put it bluntly: massive losses, deep traps, missing out on rallies, and margin calls are all 必经 paths for every top-tier investor. But when this statement is made, 90% of people will feel repulsed, resistant, or even curse loudly. This is because human nature inherently dislikes loss. The original intention for everyone entering the market is to make money, to appreciate assets, and to win effortlessly. No one comes to lose money; no one wants to accept drawdowns, and no one wants to experience the suffocating feeling of account shrinkage..." datetime: "2026-08-06T08:05:08.000Z" locales: - [en](https://longbridge.com/en/topics/43235029.md) - [zh-CN](https://longbridge.com/zh-CN/topics/43235029.md) - [zh-HK](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/topics/43235029.md) author: "[AngerBird](https://longbridge.com/en/profiles/13017810.md)" --- # The most cruel required course in investing: All great achievers have once died. There is a truth in the investment circle that no one wants to admit, yet it is incredibly real: Losses are never an investment mistake; they are a mandatory course in investing. To put it bluntly: massive losses, deep traps, missing out on rallies, and margin calls are all 必经 paths for every top-tier investor. But when this statement is made, 90% of people will feel repulsed, resistant, or even curse loudly. This is because human nature inherently dislikes loss. The original intention for everyone entering the market is to make money, to appreciate assets, and to win effortlessly. No one comes to lose money; no one wants to accept drawdowns; no one wants to experience the suffocating feeling of account shrinkage. So everyone likes to hear about compound interest, trends, catching bull stocks, and logic for guaranteed profits. Yet no one is willing to listen to: you must first learn to lose money, learn to endure breakdowns, and learn to accept failure. This is the most anti-human, cruel, yet fair reality of investing. The market never treats people gently. It won't give you profits just because you work hard, are smart, or are serious. The market only uses the coldest methods to repeatedly beat against human greed, fear，侥幸 (luck), and arrogance. Many people think: The ultimate ability in investing is stock selection, watching the board, and predicting market trends. Actually, no. The ultimate cultivation in investing is enduring losses, volatility, despair, and self-doubt. Those who haven't experienced deep traps don't understand what risk control means; Those who haven't experienced missing out don't understand what patience means; Those who haven't experienced margin calls will never know how to revere the market. Bull markets with smooth sailing cannot teach anyone growth. All trading systems, all risk control disciplines, and all underlying cognitions grow bit by bit after massive losses, heart-wrenching pain, and breakdowns during late-night reviews. This is also why: Newbies are most likely to make quick money, while veterans are most likely to stabilize compound interest. Newbies profit by luck and trade by emotion; Veterans build their foundation with blood and tears and survive through systems. The cruelest rule of the capital market: Those who haven't paid the tuition fee for losses will eventually return their principal to the market in one lump sum. Every reasonable drawdown you dodged, Every self-correction you avoided, Every time you stubbornly held without stop-loss due to 侥幸 (luck), Will eventually turn into a bigger disaster, settled collectively. The market never favors the smart; The market only favors those who have been hammered, hurt, corrected, and reborn. I know many people can't accept this sentence: "Investment requires enjoying losses." It sounds absurd, counter-intuitive, or even like a scam. Who wants to enjoy account shrinkage? Who wants to bear the pain of a margin call? Who wants to accept their own judgment errors? No one does. But true maturity is never about liking losses, but understanding the value of losses, accepting their inevitability, and using losses to complete iteration. The fate of ordinary people: Lose, panic, collapse, uninstall the app, swear off playing, and then blame the market, the trend, and luck. Ultimately becoming the most ordinary among the masses, forgotten by the market, eliminated by the era. The transformation of the few: Lose, feel pain, wake up, review, correct errors, rebuild systems, reshape mindset, reshape cognition. One nirvana, lifelong advancement. The capital market is extremely fair: Everyone who doesn't fall will eventually become a legend; Everyone who can't withstand adversity will eventually become cannon fodder. This market has never been about who earns faster or has stronger explosive power. The ultimate competition is always: Who survives longer, who has higher error tolerance, and who doesn't collapse in adversity. Every drawdown you endure today, Every darkness you get through, Every failure you swallow, Is quietly helping you build a moat that others don't have. Risk control is earned through losses; Patience is trapped out; Reverence is 熬 (endured) out from margin calls; Stable compound interest is exchanged for countless times of shattering and rebuilding oneself. Finally, here is the most truthful words for all traders: Don't fear losses, don't hate drawdowns. Losses are the most expensive and effective tuition fees in investing. If you get through it, you are one of the few who traverse cycles; If you don't, you are the ordinary person batch-harvested by the market. All great successes in life are reborn from desperate situations. All deifications in investing begin with massive losses. ## Comments (10) - **投资小达人 · 2026-08-07T03:27:58.000Z · 👍 1**: You only learn a lesson after getting beaten. Bros, can a China Unicom card from Hong Kong normally place orders when roaming in mainland China? Just returned from a business trip to Hong Kong. - **坐等个股起飞** (2026-08-07T03:28:37.000Z): That works. I use the China Unicom Greater Bay Area card for Hong Kong; when roaming back, data traffic goes through the Hong Kong exit, and Longbridge works normally. - **Tony_Xu · 2026-08-07T00:59:05.000Z**: The boss summarized it well. Preserving capital is the most important thing. Don't be impulsive; don't put all your eggs in one basket. Diversify your investments. - **粟宇1986 · 2026-08-06T16:35:48.000Z**: $XIAOMI-W(01810.HK)Just keep holding after seeing this; you'll become a master sooner or later! - **明月清风_188 · 2026-08-06T10:43:56.000Z**: The boss's summary is great, a personal experience! - **小叶同学yhq · 2026-08-06T10:03:59.000Z**: Spy Guy makes a lot of sense. - **得鹿为鱼 · 2026-08-06T08:52:49.000Z · 👍 1**: All great achievements in life are reborn from desperate situations.All legendary status in investing begins with massive losses.State the main point clearly; bring the painting to life with a few strokes. - **老胡爱分享 · 2026-08-06T08:34:08.000Z**: I was moved to tears. - **洺燕堂413 · 2026-08-06T08:32:54.000Z**: Must get through this, become one of those who survive the cycle 💪 - **洺燕堂413 · 2026-08-06T08:31:14.000Z**: Learned it 👍