There are tens of thousands of cheap tokens lying in your wallet, the account balance looks bleak, but are you still dreaming of "100x" returns?

In the eight years since I entered the industry, I have seen too many novice investors rush into altcoins right from the start. They listen to stories of "high-multiplier Bitcoin," calculating the logic that the more severe the dip, the more explosive the rise, hoping to achieve financial freedom by accumulating large amounts of cheap tokens. Honestly, I can understand this idea, but I also want to tell you a harsh reality — altcoins are no longer what they used to be.

The market's DNA has changed, but many people are still chasing old dreams.

**Those who truly made money in recent years**

From 2017 to 2021, you read that right, some people did achieve wealth leaps through altcoins. But don’t forget what the environment was like back then. Limited capital outflows, rampant concept hype, and the entire market still resembled a wilderness; the power dynamics between retail speculators and institutional players were completely different.

What truly changed everything was the emergence of compliant spot products.

This shift may seem technical, but it actually directly rewrote the narrative of the entire crypto market. Who are the main buyers of Bitcoin today? Not retail investors like us, but family offices, institutions managing huge pension funds, and hedge funds on Wall Street.

These players move billions of dollars daily. What are they watching? Macro economic conditions, central bank interest rate trends, global capital flows — these hard indicators. They are not involved in the "concept relay race" of the altcoin circle.

Compared to betting on a small coin story, institutional investors care more about asset allocation logic and liquidity. Their entry directly dilutes retail investors’ influence and changes the logic of capital flow. In the past, altcoins relied on information asymmetry and speculative heat; now, both are fading.

The market is indeed evolving, and recognizing this is very important.