9 Ways to Make Money in the Crypto Market: A Beginner's Advanced Guide

In the 2025 bull market, if you want to make steady profits, you must recognize a reality—there is no one-size-fits-all method. The following 9 strategies correspond to different risk tolerances and time commitments for investors.

Level 1: Passive Income (Suitable for Office Workers)

HODL to Wealth Method

Choose mainstream assets like BTC (currently $85.55K) and ETH (currently $2.83K), hold for more than 6 months, and wait for the bull market to mature. The core advantage of this method is: you only need to buy, store, and wait. The obvious downside is: it requires strong psychological resilience to endure volatility. Statistics show that investors who hold coins for over 4 years almost all end up profitable.

DeFi Staking for Annual Yield

Deposit ETH or USDT into DeFi protocols to earn passive income of 5%-20% annually. It sounds attractive, but the risks include: smart contract attacks and project team跑路. Choosing established protocols (like Aave, Lido) can significantly reduce risks.

Airdrop Mining at Zero Cost

Participate in testnet tasks, complete social activities for projects, and earn tokens for free. The AI track in 2025 offers many airdrop opportunities. The downside is it takes time to identify genuine opportunities, and it’s hard to tell real from fake.

Level 2: Active Trading (Suitable for Those with Time to Invest)

Swing Trading for Quick Gains

Capture 10%-20% short-term gains on mainstream coins like ETH. For example: sell when it rises from $2300 to $2500. This requires basic technical understanding. The advantage is frequent profit-taking in a bull market; the disadvantage is that slow reactions can lead to being cut by reversals.

Entering the Market at Low Prices

Participate in new projects through platforms’ Launchpool and similar activities. Buy low, sell upon listing, and enjoy explosive growth. However, 80% of projects will eventually fail, so it heavily depends on good judgment.

Arbitrage Trading for Small but Frequent Profits

Use price differences across exchanges to arbitrage. The lowest risk but thin margins, requiring quick reactions. Suitable for those with trading systems.

Level 3: High Risk, High Return (Advanced Players)

Leveraged Trading for Big Wins

5-10x leverage means if BTC rises 5%, your account increases by 50%. Conversely, a 5% drop results in a 50% loss. Liquidation happens much faster than wealth accumulation. Beginners often jump in seeing others profit, but most end up losing everything.

NFT Investment Based on Market Sentiment

Potential NFTs can double easily during a bull market, but over 95% are junk projects. Better to miss out than to rush blindly.

News-Driven Opportunities

Anticipate policy changes (e.g., favorable policies from a major country) or technical upgrades (like ETH upgrades) and position early. When the market arrives, it can skyrocket. The downside is that fake news is common, and it’s easy to get caught on the wrong side.

Three Iron Laws for Capital Survival

No matter which profit method you choose, these three points must be followed:

Position Control Rule: Only invest 5%-10% of your total assets in the market, and no more than 2% in a single trade. Even the best method can lead to disaster if you bet everything.

Secure Storage: Store large amounts of funds in cold wallets; only keep operational funds in hot wallets. Exchange hacks happen every year—don’t become a victim.

Continuous Learning: Spend 15 minutes daily analyzing the market, following news, and studying on-chain data. Knowledge is the armor that reduces risk.

What Should Beginners Do?

Don’t try all 9 methods at once. The recommended approach is:

Start with a combination of HODL + Swing Trading to survive the bull-bear cycles. Once you have a basic understanding, gradually try DeFi staking and primary market investments. Leverage trading and complex arbitrage should be attempted only when your psychological resilience and technical skills are truly solid.

The bull market is never a playground for gamblers but a harvest period for disciplined, planned investors. Stay steady, control risks, and you can also earn your first significant profit in this cycle.