Recap · August 31, 2025 · 41:36
Nexus: How to Trade News, Making $1M in Crypto, How To Make It and More | TG Podcast
The Signal
Nexus describes turning the FTX collapse into the first serious run of his trading career, then reflects on the losses and workload that shaped his risk management. The episode moves from a $3,000 news trade and a Hyperliquid airdrop to a losing $PUMP long, with Nexus repeatedly returning to preservation, concentration and sticking to the thing a trader actually does well.
Key Takeaways
- 01
FAST NEWS CAN CREATE A TRADE
Nexus saw a report that FTX withdrawals had paused within about a minute, shorted with his remaining capital and then followed every development for three days. He says the run took roughly $3,000 to $35,000 or $40,000.
- 02
BEING BROKE CHANGED HIS RISK
After losing his account on a Luna long-squeeze attempt, he spent months without money in London. That memory now informs a habit of asking whether a loss would be devastating before taking risk.
- 03
SMALL WINS MADE THE BASE
He advises struggling traders to identify their one repeatable skill rather than becoming a jack of all trades. Outside Hyperliquid, he says the account grew through many smaller trades rather than a single rescue win.
- 04
THE AIRDROP FIT EXISTING BEHAVIOR
Nexus farmed Hyperliquid by trading a platform he liked for its execution, not initially for points. He estimates about $350 million of volume across eight or nine wallets and roughly 600,000 tokens from the drop.
- 05
PEACE OF MIND CAN BE THE EXIT
On $PUMP, he closed an underwater long on a small bounce rather than keep watching it fall. He says accepting the loss was preferable to carrying a position that stayed in his mind all day.
On the Record
“I saw it like within a minute, probably 30 seconds even, and it was like withdrawals have been paused. There have been no withdrawals from FTX wallet.”
“I was just monitoring these massively levered trades, and then the news about CZ was like Binance is going to buy us out and stuff.”
“Just do the one thing that you're good at. Don't try to be a jack of all trades.”
“I always just think, okay, well, would I be devastated if this happened? And then try to guard against that.”
The Breakdown
From Robinhood losses to a news-trading break
Nexus began trading stocks in 2020 with a few thousand dollars, lost more often than he won and chased biotech volatility before moving to crypto. He says the sustained run started during FTX's 2022 collapse. An onchain account reported paused FTX withdrawals; he saw it within roughly 30 seconds and read it as a reason not to be long. With about $3,000 left, he went heavily short.
Seventy-two hours inside the FTX unwind
The initial short was not a clean hold to zero. Nexus says he closed and went long after Sam Bankman-Fried said everything was fine, then kept trading the rapidly changing news: Binance potentially buying FTX led him to BNB, and the reversal led him to short both. He describes staying locked in for 72 hours, barely speaking to his then-girlfriend, now wife, while she brought him food. By the end, he had turned the $3,000 into roughly $35,000 to $40,000.
The memory of Luna and no money
Asked why the run continued, Nexus starts with the failure that preceded it. He tried to long a Luna short squeeze, blew out nearly all his money and then tilted away what remained. He spent about six months broke in London, unable to work there and considering an Alaskan crabbing boat because the possible three-month pay looked life-changing. Having to ask his partner for money, including for a vape, was humiliating; he says that pain remains in the background of every risk decision.
Hunger, hours and a narrower craft
Nexus says the recovery took optimism and hunger, plus periods of working 18 to 20 hours a day, seven days a week, followed by short burnouts. His advice is not to force every market: review what has actually made money, choose the skill that fits and repeat it. He says his gains were usually small trades stacking on top of each other, with occasional larger ones, rather than a single transformative win.
Why Hyperliquid became a major position
Nexus estimates he received roughly 600,000 HYPE tokens after collecting more than 100,000 points. He sold some early around $4 to $5 and later about a third around $45, explaining that the position size exceeded what he could comfortably hold. Before points existed, he had used Hyperliquid to trade untaxed assets and short Fartcoin; he liked that it came closer than prior perpetual exchanges to replacing a centralized exchange. The points program simply matched the high-volume trading he was already doing.
Volume as an airdrop strategy
By the end of the program, he estimates about $350 million in volume across eight or nine wallets, including one for his wife. Nexus frames this as an extension of his older scalping style, which he used to compound a smaller portfolio quickly. Once points arrived in December 2023, he recognized that his normal activity was unusually well suited to the airdrop. Selling some reflected the preservation mindset formed after going broke.
Taking the $PUMP loss
When the conversation turns to Pump.fun, Nexus says he had traded $PUMP badly: he opened a long, forgot about it and found himself deep underwater. The temptation was to call an ugly chart a bottom, but it kept falling. He exited into a small bounce, saying he would rather take the loss than let an underwater position consume his attention. The contrast with the FTX trade is direct: rapid information and active monitoring gave him a thesis there; on $PUMP, he chose mental clarity over waiting for a recovery.
Distilled from the episode transcript · Counterparty Recap Desk
