// the find
xiaolai/the-self-cultivation-of-leeks
Wish you have a good life of peace…
A short book (originally ~40,000 Chinese characters) by Li Xiaolai on why retail traders lose money in crypto markets — what he calls the 'leek' phenomenon. Written during the 2018 bear market, it argues the problem isn't the market or bad actors but the behavioral patterns of the traders themselves. Available in Chinese and an English translation.
The author has genuine skin-in-the-game credibility, having lived through multiple crypto bull/bear cycles. The framing is unusually honest — it starts by admitting the word 'leek' (retail victims) is itself misused, which signals actual thinking rather than borrowed wisdom. The English translation is readable and available in the same repo, lowering the barrier for non-Chinese readers. Short enough to read in a sitting.
This is a markdown file in a git repo, not software — there's nothing to build, run, or integrate. Last updated June 2024 but the content is from 2018, and crypto markets in 2026 are a different animal; some advice is dated. No structured table of contents, chapter navigation, or versioning of the text itself. The repo has 531 forks but no contributing guidelines, so derivative translations or corrections have nowhere to land properly.