This article comes from: Taiki Maeda
Compiled by Odaily Planet Daily (@OdailyChina); Translated by Azuma (@azuma_eth)
In the crypto market, almost no one does not know Eugene Ng Ah Sio ( 0xENAS ), whose real identity is Darryl Wang, co-founder of Tangent Ventures.
For a long time, Darryl has shared his personal trading experience and operation reviews through the once anonymous account Eugene. He also provides various valuable market opportunity analyses.
Darryl is one of the best cryptocurrency traders in the world, but his journey wasn’t all smooth sailing.
After nearly blowing up his account in May 2021, Darryl continued to evolve as an investor and successfully built a well-known fund in the industry.
I have had many conversations with Darryl on my YouTube channel since 2022, and I will transcribe the ones that have had the greatest impact on me.
Considering Darryl is one of the sharpest minds in this market, I hope this content can be helpful to you as well.
Q1: Personal background
Moderator (Taiki Maeda): To help everyone get to know you better, can you share what you are working on now?
Eugene: I am the co-founder of Tangent Ventures, a multi-strategy proprietary investment firm, where I focus on the liquidity market and my partner Jason covers the venture market. We also jointly manage a research-driven spot portfolio with an eye on long-term fundamental strategies.
Prior to that, I was one of the principals of Defiance Capital.
I initially entered the cryptocurrency market as a retail investor in 2020 , but I have grown a lot since then.
Q2: Lessons Learned
Moderator: You are now a very successful trader, but I remember that you encountered some setbacks in 2021. Can you share your mistakes and the lessons you learned from them?
Eugene: At the beginning of 2021, I adopted a high-risk strategy and actively added a lot of leverage. I made a short-term profit in February, but re-invested in March, and failed to avoid the crash in May. My allocation ratio was too high, and I bought leveraged on the decline. At the worst time, I suffered an 80% retracement and was forced to close the core position at the low point.
It was a brutal experience, but it taught me the most important lesson - survival first. After that, I chose to cut my losses and start over.
Another big mistake I made was over-concentrating my position in a single DeFi protocol, and the token has never recovered since its decline. That loss made me realize that no matter how strong your convictions are, diversification is necessary.
The most important thing is to always stay at the table. Dont get completely defeated by any one trade. Adaptability, risk management, and learning from mistakes are the keys to long-term success. Even today, minimizing the risk of ruin is our top priority when we adjust the size of our bets.
Q3: Evolution of trading styles
Host: How has your trading style evolved?
Eugene: The first step is to identify the core strategy - looking for asymmetric opportunities with huge potential gains. The difficulty lies in identifying them in real time. I don’t have a magic ball that can see everything. All decisions come from experience, trial and error, and intuition.
Crypto is still very intuitive for me. When I see a new opportunity, I usually have a gut reaction within minutes, and over time I’ve found that my first instinct is often correct.
Looking back, I tried to analyze what triggered this intuition - what specific factors gave me confidence in the investment... The answer is that patterns tend to repeat and although the market continues to evolve, the biggest winners tend to have similar characteristics.
Over time, we built a proprietary framework at Tangent to visualize and quantify these traits to help us better identify them. These frameworks greatly improved accuracy and also allowed others within the company to leverage my experience in the market.
Q4 : Trading Psychology
Host: How do you deal with the psychological challenges in trading?
Eugene: Yes, it is a huge challenge.
In a 24/7 market like crypto, you are constantly battling greed, fear, and the fear that someone will sell.
Keeping a clear mind is crucial, and if I feel emotionally unbalanced, I’ll pause. Sometimes, I’ll completely step away from crypto for two or three days to reset.
One of the key lessons I learned is that “you can’t catch them all” and you have to be willing to miss some opportunities. Sticking to my area of expertise, recognizing my strengths and ignoring distractions is critical to long-term success. As GCR once said, “He who chases two rabbits catches neither.”
Q5 : Position structure
Host: What kind of betting structure do you generally adopt?
Eugene: I believe in the power of heavy holdings. Sometimes, the top three holdings in our portfolio account for 80%. The key is to align your portfolio with your most confident bets.
Of course, this also means you need strict risk management to avoid huge drawdowns.
Q6 : Risk balance
Host: How do you find a balance between risk aversion and huge returns?
Eugene: That’s a difficult question. In the last cycle, I took huge risks—like putting 80% of my net worth in a single asset— that sound ridiculous in hindsight, but that audacity also paid off big time.
As an investor in a new cycle, I am more cautious now, but I still ask myself: What enabled me to make those big moves before, and how can I replicate this now without being reckless?
The challenge is to maintain prior conviction while taking risk, while remaining realistic about market volatility.
Q7 : Dare to dream
Moderator: I remember that you invested 80% of your net worth in AVAX in 2021. Looking back, would you make the same decision again if you had the chance?
Eugene: Its hard to say, and it seems ridiculous now, but that size of exposure allowed me to compound significantly. As Ive matured, Ive become more risk conscious and have completely different systems and frameworks to prevent me from making big mistakes. I was much more naive back then, and I think that mindset played a big role in my success in the last cycle.
It’s important to be aware of the risks, but it’s also important to dare to dream when the market presents you with opportunities.
Host: So, what you mean is that your approach is now more cautious, but you still need to be able to take the same risk to get excess returns?
Eugene: Exactly. Even though it sounds daunting, making big, focused bets is critical. It’s hard to do, but that’s how the best returns are achieved. You have to be willing to take those risks, even if they make you uncomfortable.
Q8 : Recent Errors
Host: It sounds like youve developed a lot of discipline. Can you share a bad trade you made and what you learned from it?
Eugene: Im just a human being and I make mistakes all the time.
A recent mistake that impressed me was when I went over long SOL at $210 and did not adhere to my $200 stop loss.
The most important lesson in trading is to control downside risk, and to do that you must enforce stop losses. Once you become lax in this regard, mistakes can accumulate more dangerously and you risk far more than you originally planned.
Q9 : Don’t fall in love with your positions
Host: What do you want to say to your past self?
Eugene: I would ask myself, “If you sold your entire portfolio today, would you buy the same assets back in the same proportions?” Most people would realize they wouldn’t, but they continue to hold bad positions because of emotional attachment.
Additionally, opportunity cost is important — every dollar invested in an asset means it cannot be invested elsewhere.
Another thing is to avoid the “win it all back in one trade” mentality. This is a common trap. Don’t revenge trade, but focus on accumulating small wins.
Q10 : When to stop loss?
Host: How do you know when to cut loss on a position?
Eugene: This is a hard one. A lot of people hold on to losing positions because of emotional attachment or because they hope things will get better. But the key is to be honest with yourself. If you’ve reassessed your thesis and the situation hasn’t improved, then it’s time to move on.
This is where many retail investors struggle the most.
Q11 : Avoid bias and trust the team
Host: How do you ensure that bias doesnt cloud your judgment?
Eugene: Teamwork helps circumvent this problem. In our company, we make everything transparent so that when I do something questionable, people can point it out.
My sense of responsibility keeps me in check. We conduct rigorous, even brutal, post-mortems on every major decision, and we encourage everyone, including new hires, to proactively point out more “senior” members in a brutally transparent manner. There is no place for egos in the market , and building a team committed to radical honesty without mixing emotions is critical.
If you are alone, find someone to share your positions with and get feedback from. This can help alleviate emotional decision making.
Host: So, accountability plays a huge role in keeping you focused?
Eugene: Yes. You need to have a team or even a trusted person to discuss the deal with and make sure you don’t lose control when you make a mistake. If you make a mistake, it’s important to accept it and move on, rather than getting stuck in it.
This sense of responsibility will prevent you from making more mistakes.
Host: Can you share an example of how this helped you avoid a mistake?
Eugene: I once opened a large short position on DOGE when I thought a market event would trigger a sell-off. One of my team members questioned my thesis and instead of doubling down, I stopped to reflect and realized that the position was shaky. This transparent and honest feedback allowed me to stop losses early and re-evaluate.
If I were operating alone, I would probably have held on to the position and watched my losses mount.
Q12 : Social media selection
Host: For those who are looking for their own group or trusted circle of friends, what do you recommend they do?
Eugene: A lot of alpha opportunities have moved from Twitter/X to Telegram and Discord communities.
Twitter/X is a great platform, but now I prefer Telegram channels as my main communication medium.
Q13 : Trader’s qualities
Host: What common characteristics do successful traders have?
Eugene: Successful traders are good at handling stress. They are able to calmly make decisions when the market is volatile. If you have this ability, hone it; if not, recognize it and dont force yourself into high-pressure situations.
It’s critical to recognize your strengths and weaknesses and choose your opportunities accordingly.
Q14 : Traders are prone to making mistakes
Host: What are the most common mistakes traders make?
Eugene: I often see people counting their chickens before the eggs hatch.
This happens when people get caught up in the idea of “I’m successful” because their portfolio is growing and start making drastic lifestyle changes. They think the money on their books is real money and buy unnecessary things like expensive cars or luxury watches, but the reality is that until it’s in your bank account and taxes are paid, it’s just points on a scoreboard.
I always view cryptocurrency as a game - its not real money until its cash. People often mismanage their wealth and lifestyle when they dont understand this.
Q15 : Operational errors
Host: What are some common misunderstandings people have about cryptocurrencies?
Eugene: One of the biggest misconceptions is that you should allocate capital based on fundamentals. People think that if a project has strong fundamentals, the price will go up, but in reality the market doesn’t care about fundamentals 90% of the time.
The real way to make money is to predict which narratives will catch on before anyone else does. At least thats been my experience. Its a bit like when you know something is going to happen, you want to catch it as long as you can, because the market can move faster and further than expected.
Q16 : Path suggestions for newcomers
Host: What advice would you give to someone who is just entering the cryptocurrency market?
Eugene: Honestly, if I were to enter the cryptocurrency market today, I would question whether it was worth it.
But if you still want to enter the market, I would first recommend focusing on on-chain assets. They are the assets with the best upside potential and can quickly compound a small portfolio, but the on-chain market will not last forever - on-chain assets have specific cycles, and when it dries up, you also need to be able to trade on CEX.
Being proficient in both aspects of the trade is key, but I would focus on mastering one and getting good at the other rather than trying to master both at the same time.
Q17 : Personal dream
Moderator: You have been in the cryptocurrency space for a while. What are your personal goals for the next 10 years? Do you think cryptocurrency is just a means to an end?
Eugene: First of all, I absolutely love this market. Competing with the best traders and investors in the world is one of the big reasons why I entered this market. My goal for the next 10 years is to build the best proprietary fund in the cryptocurrency space.
Long term, my sights will be on the stars. I have always dreamed of contributing to the advancement of humanity into an interstellar species. A large part of that means supporting space exploration in any way I can. One of my bucket list items is to go to space before I die.
Host: That’s incredible. So, you think cryptocurrency is not just about wealth accumulation — it’s part of a bigger vision?
Eugene: Exactly. There has been a lot of discussion about the mission of cryptocurrency, and I don’t need to repeat it here.
For me, beyond all of this, cryptocurrencies are a platform for achieving extraordinary wealth, giving us the opportunity to compete on a global scale. I want to use this success to support larger causes, such as biomedical research, space exploration, and environmental protection.
We have actually invested in robotics, biocomputing, home cancer detection, and other non-crypto related cutting-edge technologies. Sometimes, the founders are even former crypto practitioners, or people who are interested in cryptocurrencies. It’s all connected.
Q18 : Finally, some advice for readers
Host: Finally, do you have any advice for our readers?
Eugene: One thing I would say is give back. If you have success, remember that someone paved the way for you. Showing gratitude and sharing your knowledge with others is one of the most rewarding things in this field.
From a trading perspective, dont get too attached to your positions. The market will always surprise you. When you are wrong, you should stop losses quickly and admit your mistakes humbly. Most importantly, think of unrealized gains as points on a scoreboard - its not real money until its in your bank account. If you remember this, you will avoid some of the biggest pitfalls in this field.
