While many crypto traders chase the next big runner hoping for 100x gains, 0xLeo takes a different approach. His method focuses on finding tokens a few days after launch, waiting for the initial hype to clear, then capturing consistent 2-3x returns. This watchlist-based scalping strategy has helped him navigate changing market conditions from the Base chain euphoria of early 2024 to the more challenging environment of today.
Leo's crypto journey began in 2021, though he admits to being "a complete normie" at the time, trading Bitcoin and ETH on Coinbase using one-minute charts while being "completely unprofitable."
His approach shifted when he understood the four-year cycle concept. Rather than fighting against timing, he spent 2022-2023 building capital through non-crypto activities like flipping items on Marketplace and eBay. His plan was to be positioned for what he expected to be a massive 2025 run.
The plan went sideways when markets started moving earlier than expected. "This cycle was crazy. Like we had an all-time high before the halving which never happens," he recalls. Scrambling to get in, he arrived just as Base chain launched in late 2023/early 2024.
That timing proved fortunate. Base experienced a massive run from January to March 2024, and Leo caught multiple tokens at sub-1 million market caps that ran to 20-50 million and beyond. Brett, Doge, Beep, and others delivered the kind of returns that seem impossible in current conditions.
The euphoria did not last. "Everyone was hyping up the smart wallet and Jesse and Brian were hyping up onchain summer," Leo explains. The expectation was that Coinbase would roll out something transformative for Base. Instead, the chain experienced a brutal 90% correction across most assets during summer 2024.
This experience taught Leo a crucial lesson about holding: the market giveth, and the market taketh away with equal speed. He had watched his balance reach heights he thought would let him "make it," only to watch most of those gains evaporate because he held too long.
From that point forward, Leo shifted strategies. Rather than trying to find the next Base or the next new chain to ape into early, he focused on what he could control: scalping existing tokens on Solana with a consistent, repeatable process.
Leo's current approach differs fundamentally from most trenchers. While others sit on new pair feeds hoping to catch launches at bonding, he waits.
"I don't trade like new coins as much," he explains. "I like when a coin comes out and it's been out for like a few days, it's kind of found a floor. I like to just scalp like a 2-3x on that."
His daily process involves:
"There's at least one trade per day where there's an existing coin that's been ranging from like 200k to a mill and you can catch a 2-3x on that if you're just paying attention to all these coins."
The logic behind waiting is rooted in market dynamics. When a token launches, everyone buys without much analysis. They throw money in first, then evaluate after. This creates crowded positions where the slightest negative catalyst triggers cascading sells.
Leo looks for the opposite: "It's nice when the coin's been out for a few days and then you check the fomo holder list and there's like five people in it or something like that. I just feel like a lot more comfortable entering the trade when it's uncrowded."
In the current PvP environment where trenchers are essentially trading against each other, being early to a trade that will attract more trenchers later creates natural exit liquidity. If you enter before the recognizable names, you can sell into their buying.
Leo maintains clear guidelines for sizing:
New Launches: $500-1,000, sometimes up to larger amounts for launches he has strong conviction on
Existing Coins (His Primary Strategy): $1,000-5,000 for tokens a few days old that have found floors
Portfolio Cash Management: Maintains at least 50% of his trading wallet in cash at all times
Maximum Position Relative to Portfolio: Roughly 5% at current wallet size
He keeps position counts low, ideally around five coins maximum. More than that creates tracking problems: "You have to keep track of all these positions and all these things and it's hard to execute when you're tracking so many."
When asked what behaviors most improved his trading, Leo's answer surprised: having an organized life and a clear mind.
"You need to have a routine and stuff. Have a sound mind. Don't be spending so much time on Twitter and stuff. I've recently not been going on Twitter as much. Keeping a clear mind is super important and I don't think enough people actually talk about that."
This extends to recognizing when momentum turns negative. Leo has developed the ability to sense when he is on a losing streak and responds by cutting activity dramatically: "Every time that I can sense that I'm on bad momentum, I'll just stop trading. Like 80% of my trades, I'll just stop doing them."
Leo views P&L trends like chart trends. When you hit some nice wins, you start hitting more because of the positive mindset. When losses compound, the opposite happens.
His response to negative momentum is not to fight through it but to step back: reduce position sizes to tiny amounts, observe the market, and wait until confidence returns before sizing back up.
"Your P&Ls can have trends as well because it's actually crazy. You can hit some nice P&Ls and you just start hitting more P&Ls because it puts you in a certain mindset."
Leo's profit taking reflects his scalping style:
He describes much of his execution as instinct-based: "A lot of it is like instinct. Like I can if I'm sitting here watching a chart, it just starts candling. I'll definitely just start trimming it."
While Leo uses fomo to track traders, he warns against direct copy trading:
"I think copy trading can be good but I don't think buying straight after someone is good. Like if someone buys a token you should look at the token because usually when someone buys it will candle and then it will dip."
His recommended approach: let good wallets bring coins to your attention, add those coins to your watchlist, then wait for a better entry. The information is valuable, but the timing of copying directly is often terrible.
Looking forward, Leo sees potential in several areas:
Claude and AI Coding: Vibe coding is gaining attention from non-crypto audiences, which could drive speculation
Privacy Coins: He is bullish on privacy as returning to crypto's original cipherpunk ethos. The Monero community in particular "feels like Bitcoin in like 2012"
X42 and Agent-to-Agent: With major players like Coinbase and Solana focusing on agent infrastructure, this narrative has staying power
He notes that current conditions make it difficult for even excellent tokens to reach previous cycle highs. Goat launched in perfect conditions and reached a billion. That same token today would likely fizzle at 30-40 million regardless of its merits.
Leo offers an interesting theory about the AI token 67's performance. Everyone was targeting 60-70 million as a minimum, expecting it to follow goat's path to hundreds of millions.
"Because everyone had a target in mind like 'oh I'll sell it below 100 mil' that's why it didn't do that well," he explains. Whatever market cap people are targeting is almost always 30-50% lower than actual tops.
The lesson: consensus price targets become self-defeating prophecies.
Leo's most expensive lesson mirrors what many traders learn: always be selling on the way up.
"I've roundtripped so many coins just thinking oh yeah this can definitely go a bit higher. Coins just top before everyone thinks or they'll top way higher than anyone thinks."
For scalping, which is Leo's current strategy, this means selling before others. He acknowledges this is a "Jeep mindset" that some criticize, but in current market conditions, it is adaptation rather than defeatism.
Leo maintains healthy uncertainty about where markets are headed. The four-year cycle already broke once this cycle with pre-halving all-time highs. Many traditional signals no longer apply.
His response is defensive positioning: staying heavily cash, getting out of trades earlier than he might otherwise, and avoiding extended holds. If Bitcoin rolls over, altcoins and onchain assets will suffer dramatically. He would rather miss upside than be caught exposed to that scenario.
"Even if we do rocket out of here, I know I will make money, but if we dive here and I'm in positions, I'll just get cooked."
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