Last night at 10 PM, my trading group suddenly went quiet.

The most active guy usually in the group sent a message: "Brothers, I closed all my positions, wiped out the leverage."

The group instantly exploded: "Are you crazy? It’s about to rebound!"

He didn’t reply, directly dropping a news screenshot — the Bank of Japan announced its first rate hike in 30 years, raising the benchmark interest rate to 0.75%.

"Do you know what 'free money is gone' means?" he finally said, "Those big traders borrowing yen to trade crypto, they’re about to settle accounts tonight."

Three hours later, the market started to plunge.

I looked at the screen, feeling surprisingly calm inside. Because in the afternoon, I had already closed all my leveraged positions — half converted into BTC spot, the other half into stablecoins.

It’s not fear, it’s just having the full picture clear.

**When the world's cheapest leverage funds start to withdraw, the only correct choice is to get out first.**

Japan’s rate hike this time was only 25 basis points, seeming slow and steady, but the signals behind it are very clear:

First, the era of cheap yen is really coming to an end. Arbitrage trades that borrowed yen at zero cost to speculate will see their costs jump directly.

Second, funds are starting to flow back to Japan, with risk assets being the first to be cut.

Third, the chain reaction has just begun. You have no idea which big institutions are quietly closing positions or when a stampede might happen.

At this point, all technical analysis will temporarily fail because this isn’t an internal market adjustment — it’s a global capital chain restructuring.

So what should I do next? Very simple, three things:

**First, zero leverage.** Absolutely no borrowing to bet on directions, no matter how tempting the market looks.

**Second, accumulate spot.** Keep your core BTC holdings; if prices keep falling, buy in batches. The advantage of spot is you never have to repay debt — just wait.

**Third, hold stablecoins.** Keep enough emergency funds on hand, wait until the risk is fully released, then buy the dip. At this moment, stablecoins are your insurance.

The cruelest part of the market is this — most people see this decline and say, "I’ll buy the dip." In the end, they find their leverage has blown up, they didn’t buy the bottom, and they end up losing even more.

Looking at the change in Japanese interest rates, I actually think it’s a good reminder: **When rules change, the first thing to do is not to guess, but to protect yourself.**