How I Made My First Million in Crypto

in #okxapple • 2 months ago

Today, I'll recount how I, the monk, earned my first million in the cryptocurrency space. Many believe I built my wealth through contract trading, but in truth, my initial crypto fortune originated from arbitrage, a key part of the biggest and most sustained arbitrage wave in crypto's history.

1. The Opportunity Emerges

Back then, I was new to crypto, having entered less than a month prior, when the toughest regulation ever struck. On September 4, 2017, seven government agencies jointly announced a ban on ICOs and domestic exchange operations. Panic swept the local market, causing sharp drops in coin values. Since domestic retail investors suffered most, prices for identical coins on Chinese exchanges fell far below those on the U.S.-based Coinbase. From September 4 to September 13, mainstream cryptocurrencies offered around a 10% arbitrage gap.

The 2017 Bitcoin "9/4 Incident"


At that time, Coinbase remained obscure, and only a handful noticed the 10% price discrepancy. However, without U.S. identities, they couldn't easily transfer low-cost coins to Coinbase for dollar conversion at higher rates.

2. Early Profits

By chance, a close friend worked as a U.S. programmer with a valid visa, enabling him to assist with Coinbase cashouts.
We partnered up. I purchased ETH and LTC cheaply on Bter using RMB, withdrew them to Coinbase, and my friend sold them for USD (since USDT and stablecoins didn't exist then, selling meant converting to fiat). I then contacted foreign trade contacts to exchange USD back to RMB and transfer it to me. Each full arbitrage cycle took about two days. We completed five cycles by September 13, growing our initial 500,000 RMB capital to roughly 750,000 RMB.
To better monitor arbitrage opportunities between China and the U.S., my friend created a small Python program that displayed price differences for major coins across exchanges in both countries.

3. Market Panic Again

On September 14, the top three domestic exchanges—OKEx, Huobi, and BTC China—simultaneously declared they would halt new user registrations and cease all operations. Initially, when the 9/4 policy emerged, retail investors were cautious yet hopeful, proceeding step by step. But after the exchange announcements, nearly all retail investors lost hope and began panic selling.
People dumped holdings desperately; prices kept falling. Everyone feared that if they didn't sell Bitcoin immediately, there would be no trading venues, making their assets worthless. The crypto world seemed doomed. Almost everyone expected Bitcoin to crash to zero. This extreme panic was driven by clear negative news.

4. The Ultimate Arbitrage

Within hours, coin prices halved, and arbitrage spreads peaked. Litecoin's price gap between Bter and Coinbase hit an astonishing 38%. One can only imagine the fear and panic among domestic retail investors that day.
With 750,000 RMB on hand and seeing such a massive opportunity, we pooled another 1.2 million RMB, totaling 2 million RMB. We used nearly all to buy Ethereum and Litecoin at their lows and transferred them to Coinbase. Due to blockchain congestion, when the coins arrived, prices had started rebounding, so we sold immediately. This single arbitrage yielded about 50% profit—roughly 1 million RMB.

5. The Dust Settles

As the final panic wave faded, major players surfaced to absorb cheap coins, quickly narrowing the price gap. This over-ten-day arbitrage movement ended, and we netted a total profit of 1.25 million RMB.

6. Reflections and What Came Next

Though time has passed, as a crypto participant, I'll never forget the 9/4 event.
That day, 95% of Chinese retail investors surrendered their hard-earned holdings. Reflecting on this screenshot, it captures not only the 9/4 BTC low of $2,800 and the 38% Litecoin spread between China and the U.S., but also teaches a stark lesson—in crypto, most people's despair often becomes a goldmine for the few.
Since retail investors fully capitulated their stakes (similar to the 3/12 event), a massive bull market emerged, with Bitcoin hitting $20,000 by year-end. When I first entered crypto, I bought the cheapest assets but lacked faith and insight, so I only profited from arbitrage. By October, mainstream coins had nearly doubled since September 14. That's when I realized trading could yield larger gains.
In mid-October, I reinvested 500,000 RMB and re-entered the market. The subsequent story is well-known—I capitalized on the ICO boom with multi-fold gains and the early 2018 bull run. My 500,000 RMB principal grew to 12 million RMB (my first life's 10 million). But that's a tale for another time, to be shared later.

7. Conclusion

The "9/4 Incident" stands as a pivotal moment in crypto history. It directly spurred exchanges to relocate overseas en masse (Huobi, OKEx, Binance, etc., shifted focus abroad) and profoundly reshaped the global crypto market and domestic investor participation (turning to OTC and international platforms).
Honestly, my understanding of 9/4 may be shallow, as I was a newcomer profiting from arbitrage then. Those who lost money by selling likely feel it deeper. Experienced veterans are invited to share their thoughts in the comments.

🎁 Limited-Time Bonus — New Users Get a Bitcoin Mystery Box Worth 20+ USDT, Guaranteed!

Register on top crypto exchanges like OKX, Binance, Huobi, Bitget, Bybit, Gate, Backpack, and more—all accessible here!
👉🏻 Bookmark the latest official backup links to avoid missing out: https://linktr.ee

🔥 Recommended Reading

2026 Latest Top 10 Cryptocurrency Exchange Rankings 🔥【Must Save】

🔥 How to Solve Access Issues to OKX Exchange

Many exchanges' primary domains can be blocked or slow due to overseas servers. Ordinary users often don't know where to start and may suspect platform downtime. Actually, this is mainly from network issues, not outages. To address this, OKX, Binance, and others regularly update backup links for accessing official sites via alternatives.

🔥 Alpha “Gold Dog” Tools for Sniping

1️⃣ OKX DEX 20% rebate link - meme utility https://web3.okx.com
2️⃣ Axiom Sniping Tool: https://axiom.trade
3️⃣ Gmgn Sniping Tool: https://gmgn.ai
4️⃣ Dbot Airdrop Tool: https://app.debot.ai
5️⃣ Morelogin Multi-Account Fingerprint Browser: www.morelogin.com

Popular Searches

How to buy Trump coin, WeChat Trump coin purchase, Buy Trump coin domestically, Buy Bitcoin with RMB, Exchange tutorials for Trump coin, How to buy presidential coin, Bitcoin purchase, Bitcoin, Presidential coin, Trump coin, Buy Bitcoin domestically, Crypto exchanges, OKX download and registration, OKX RMB deposit, Binance app registration, Binance app download, Binance platform coin buying tutorial, Binance registration, Binance airdrop registration, Binance iPhone download, How to buy presidential coin, How to buy Dogecoin, Buy Bitcoin with RMB, How to download OKX, Web3 sniping, Web3 zero-cost sniping, Bitget mainland download and registration, OKX passport registration, OKX download, Binance download, Crypto side hustle, OKX futures, How to deposit RMB to OKX, How to deposit on OKX, How to set up NFT wallet, How to deposit RMB on Huobi, Beginner’s guide to crypto, btc8848.com, Contract trading mindset by Tony, Contract leverage bit Langlang, Defi mining, Crypto sniping, Crypto airdrops still playable?, What to do if contract liquidated, How to buy presidential coin on OKX & Binance, How to buy Ethereum on OKX & Binance, How to play Defi staking mining, Can NFTs still be played?, Web3 airdrop sniping, How to zero-cost sniping in crypto, How to make inscriptions, How to make runes, Beginner crypto guide, How to trade crypto, Does trading crypto make money, Beginner crypto tutorials btc8848.com, How to trade profitably, What is contract leverage, Defi mining, How to play crypto sniping, OKX airdrops, Node staking, Liquidation, Financial freedom, Heiye Investment heiyetouzi.xyz

2 months ago in #okxapple by
$0.00
    Reply 0