Recently, Bitcoin has reached a new high, but Ethereum and altcoins are collectively lagging behind, which is indeed interesting. In short, three points:

The money isn't in place; the big brother eats alone first.

The current market is like a hungry person; the new money coming in is simply not enough to feed all cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin, relying on its title of 'digital gold,' is being watched and bought by institutions and large holders. To drive the price up by a few points, Bitcoin alone has to absorb tens of billions of dollars every day. Where is there any surplus to share with Ethereum? To put it bluntly, it’s just robbing Peter to pay Paul.

Ethereum is in an awkward situation now.

Don’t be fooled by its second place in market capitalization; it is currently facing dual pressures: it lacks the safe-haven aura of Bitcoin and is not as small and easy to hype as altcoins. Recently, on-chain data has also been disappointing, with gas fees dropping to a six-month low, NFT trading volume halved, and DeFi locked value showing no improvement. Large holders are waiting for the upgrade benefits in the second half of the year and are now taking the opportunity to wash out retail investors.

Don’t panic; the crash script is different.

Compared to May 19, 2021, the current market structure is much healthier. At that time, there were chain reactions of leveraged liquidations; now the open positions in exchange contracts are only one-third of that year. Although Bitcoin's recent surge is strong, the greed index in the derivatives market has not yet reached the danger zone. If a correction does happen, it’s likely only around 10%, and if it drops too deep, institutions will instead step in to buy the dip.

Operational advice: You can gradually build positions in the range of 2500-2800 for Ethereum, with a key focus on next month's Federal Reserve interest rate meeting. Don't touch altcoins for now; wait until Bitcoin stabilizes above 70,000 to see the rotation of funds. Remember, the game in the current market is 'the big brother eats well, the little brother drinks soup'; don’t go against the trend.