SleepyArbCat

Recently, many people have asked me what a Contract for Difference (CFD) is. In fact, this thing is becoming more and more common in global financial markets. Today, I’ll give a brief overview.
A CFD is essentially a financial derivative instrument. Simply put, it allows traders to trade various financial products using margin and leverage. Its core logic is straightforward: you don’t need to actually own the asset, only to predict the direction of price movements and profit from it.
I think the most attractive aspect of CFDs is their diversity. You can trade not only forex but also gold, comm

I recently realized that my understanding of U.S. stock market opening hours was a bit mixed up, especially when it comes to time differences and daylight saving time. While I’m organizing my notes, I’ll summarize these key points, which may be helpful for everyone.
U.S. stock market opening hours actually fall into three time periods. Regular trading is from 9:30 to 16:00 (U.S. Eastern Time), Monday through Friday—this is the main trading window. If you want to catch the early session, pre-market trading starts at 4:00 and runs until 9:30. After trading ends, there’s also an after-hours sessi

Recently, I’ve been studying investment returns and found that many people don’t really understand the basic concept of how ROI is calculated. I’ll share what I’ve put together.
ROI stands for return on investment. Simply put, it’s the money you earn divided by the principal you invested, expressed as a percentage. The formula is straightforward: (Income − Cost) / Cost × 100%. For example, if you spend $1,000,000 to buy stocks and sell them for $1,300,000, then ROI is (1,300,000 − 1,000,000) / 1,000,000 = 30%.
But in reality, calculating it isn’t that simple. Taking stock investment as an exam

Recently, many people have asked me which cryptocurrencies exist and how to choose investments. Rather than being just a trendy topic, it feels like many people have been pulled in by market trends, but they only understand these things halfway. I think it’s necessary to talk about it, because investing in something without even knowing what it is can truly be quite dangerous.
Let’s start with the basics. The essence of cryptocurrency is actually a new form of money—most notably, Bitcoin. Many people will have questions at first: isn’t currency something only governments can issue? In fact, th

Recently, some friends asked me about the divergence rate, so I might as well explain this indicator thoroughly. To be honest, many people know about the divergence rate, but few can use it well.
Let's start with the basics. The divergence rate is called BIAS in English, and its core logic is quite simple—it's a percentage that shows how far the stock price deviates from the moving average. You can think of it as a measurement tool to help you determine whether a stock is overbought or oversold. The calculation method is (closing price of the day - moving average price) divided by the moving a

The opening hours of the US stock market are something that Asian investors need to think through carefully. In particular, you should pay close attention to the switch between daylight saving time and standard time, because even a small time difference can easily lead to confusion.
The regular trading session in Eastern Time runs from 9:30 to 16:00, Monday through Friday. However, if you’re monitoring the market from Australia, you’ll need to look at it from another angle. When the US stock market opens in Australia, it’s roughly in the evening to around midnight—exactly when depends on wheth

Recently, while studying U.S. stock trading, I found that many people are still a bit confused about pre-market trading. Actually, the logic behind U.S. pre-market trading is quite interesting; it’s like a prelude before the official opening, allowing investors to react in advance to events that happen overnight or in other markets.
Simply put, U.S. pre-market trading refers to buying and selling stocks during the period before the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and NASDAQ officially open. This period usually starts at 4 a.m. Eastern Time and lasts until the official opening at 9:30 a.m. Why s

Recently, many people are still a bit confused about liquidity mining; in fact, this way of making money is much simpler than most think.
Let's start with the basics—liquidity mining (Yield Farming) is simply putting tokens into a trading pool, and the platform rewards you. Don’t be fooled by the term "mining"; this has nothing to do with mining machines. It doesn’t consume electricity or require hardware equipment. It’s purely about earning money by providing liquidity.
So, what is liquidity? Simply put, it’s how quickly you can exchange your tokens for other tokens. The stronger the liquidit

Recently, many people in the community have been discussing the problem of losing private keys—this is indeed a very real concern. A number of users, after using hot wallets, have lost their mnemonic phrases due to poor management, and their assets are gone. So more and more people are starting to pay attention to cold wallets as a solution.
What exactly is a cold wallet? Put simply, it stores your private key on an offline device, such as a hardware wallet or a paper wallet. Unlike hot wallets, which are online—convenient but risky—cold wallets are like locking your money in a safe, with clea

I've been closely monitoring the USD/CNY exchange rate trend recently, and this topic definitely warrants a deeper discussion.
Since 2025, the performance of the Renminbi has been quite interesting. After experiencing three consecutive years of depreciation, signs of reversal began to appear this year. The first half of the year was quite tough, with offshore RMB briefly breaking 7.4, hitting a new low since 2015. But in the second half, the situation gradually improved. Especially in November, driven by factors such as easing US-China trade tensions and rising expectations of Federal Reserve

I’ve just noticed that recent discussions about the RMB exchange rate have been getting increasingly heated lately—especially the topic of forecasts for the USD-to-RMB exchange rate. Many institutions are re-evaluating the RMB’s long-term outlook.
Looking back at this year, after experiencing a depreciation cycle in the past few years, the RMB has shown clear rebound signs starting from the beginning of the year. In the first half of the year, it still fluctuated between 7.1 and 7.3, but entering the second half, as China-U.S. trade negotiations advanced, the RMB began to appreciate faster—at

Recently, I saw many people in the community asking what KYC is, so I decided to organize my understanding of this topic.
Honestly, if you've ever opened an account on any legitimate exchange, you will definitely be asked to verify your identity. This process is called KYC, which stands for "Know Your Customer." It sounds a bit official, but basically it’s the exchange’s way of confirming that you are a real person and not a fake account or a tool for money laundering.
When I first got into the crypto market, I was a bit annoyed by this process, thinking it was troublesome. But later, I gradua

Recently, some friends have been asking me how to trade perpetual contracts, so I decided to explain this thoroughly. To be honest, many people’s understanding of perpetual contracts still stays on the surface; today, let’s dive deep into what this thing really is, how to trade it, and what pitfalls to watch out for.
Perpetual contracts, simply put, are an upgraded version of futures. Traditional futures involve an agreement between two parties to settle at a certain price at a future date, but perpetual contracts have no such constraint. You can hold a position indefinitely, close it whenever

Recently, I’ve been pondering a question: can cryptocurrencies truly achieve anonymity? It seems decentralized, with transaction records publicly available on the blockchain, but since they use a string of characters rather than real names, it appears quite private. But that’s not really the case.
As long as someone knows that a certain wallet address belongs to you, they can trace all your transaction records along the chain, see what you bought, how much you received. It’s like wearing a mask, but if you’re recognized, everything you did while masked is exposed. At this point, some people th

刚好最近在重新梳理加密行业的创业者故事，发现徐明星这条线真的值得好好讲讲。这位从苏北小镇走出来的创业者，经历过的起伏比大多数人想象的都要剧烈。
说起来有点魔幻，他第一次被击中是在看美剧的时候。2011年的某个晚上，屏幕里有人随口说了句「Bitcoin is the future」，徐明星就这么被打醒了。要知道当时他已经连续失败三次，甚至卖了北京的房子。那种绝望到极致的时刻，比特币就这样闯进了他的视野。
2013年，徐明星创立了OKCoin。当时的交易平台都很粗糙，就是钱包加订单系统的简单拼装。他用在豆丁网积累的技术经验，从零开始做了一个真正有撮合引擎、有用户保护机制的交易平台。上线三个月就靠零手续费策略跃居中国比特币交易量第一，随后融到了千万美元。速度之快让人反应不过来。
那段时间OKCoin成了币圈的黄埔军校，批量出产了日后整个行业的关键人物。很多后来叱咤风云的名字都曾在这里工作过。但这也意味着内部张力在不断积累。2015年初，一位技术总监选择离开，两年后创立了某个后来很知名的交易所。这场分裂后来被币圈反复讨论。
真正的转折点来自2017年9月的政策冲击。ICO被叫停，法币通道关闭，这对国内交易平台是致命打击。徐明星的选择是出走——OKCoin关闭国内业务，转身变成了OKEx，注册在海外继续运营。
出走后的OKEx完成了关键的产品升级。期货合约、永续合约，这些当时华语交易者最渴望

Recently, I saw someone in the community discussing the concept of hodler again, and I think this is truly a key term for understanding the crypto market.
Speaking of the definition of hodler, it’s actually very simple—those who hold onto their coins without selling. No matter how high Bitcoin’s price rises, no matter if there’s a bubble risk, no matter if someone offers a high price to buy, hodlers just stick to their guns. They hold BTC and don’t sell. It sounds a bit crazy, but there’s actually a deep logic behind it.
I’ve noticed that many people are unable to become true hodlers mainly be

While checking market trends recently, I also saw people discussing where the US Dollar Index might be headed. That reminded me that many beginners still don’t fully understand just how important this is. To be honest, if you’re trading forex or holding US dollar-denominated assets, the rise and fall of the US Dollar Index can directly affect your returns. So today, let’s talk about this topic.
The US Dollar Index is basically like a thermometer—it’s used to measure how strong or weak the US dollar is in the global market. It tracks changes in the exchange rates of the dollar against six major

Recently, someone asked me how to calculate the opening time of the U.S. stock market, and I realized that many people are really not clear about this. Simply put, the regular trading hours of the U.S. stock market are 9:30 to 16:00 U.S. Eastern Time, but the key is to know what time that corresponds to in China.
There’s a catch: the U.S. switches between daylight saving time and standard time. During daylight saving time (from March to November), the U.S. stock market opens at 21:30 Beijing time; during standard time, it becomes 22:30. If you want to buy the dip or chase market hotspots, you