$ETH has risen to 4300, but why are many people still not making money?

Recently, Bitcoin has risen to 120,000, and Ethereum has risen to 4300. Logically, the market should be bustling, but the reality is rather quiet. The reason is simple—a large number of people missed out on opportunities, while many others are still holding onto altcoins they chased early on, suffering losses.

The root cause of this situation is "inertial thinking." Over the past two years, major investors have used prolonged periods of volatility and repeated sell-offs to completely erode retail investors' confidence in ETH. Bitcoin has soared from 15,000 to 120,000, but ETH has frequently risen and fallen back, especially the sharp drop in April of this year, which further convinced people that it was failing. As a result, when ETH began to rebound from 1400, the market had already generally abandoned it, and people sold off at the slightest increase. From 1400 to 1800, bearish sentiment was everywhere; from 1800 to 2800, some were still calling for a major crash, ultimately raising doubts all the way to 4300.

The problem is that many people judge the market solely based on the present, even using past performance to completely negate the future—thinking ETH couldn't outperform BTC in the past, so it won't in the future either. This is like "carving a boat to find a sword," forever trapped by historical anchors. Investing, however, is essentially about looking to the future, and the real winners are often those who invest before others see the light.

During this market cycle, many people focused on the SOL ecosystem and missed out on ETH. Others clung to altcoins, watching ETH reach new highs while their own coins remained at last year's lows, and began to wonder if they had made a mistake. This led to a new hesitation: should they sell their altcoins for ETH? They feared a pullback in ETH, and a sharp drop in the altcoin market followed suit.

The core question isn't whether altcoins will work, but whether they can discern the next hotspot. Before Ethereum took off, the market was filled with skepticism. Many of the current voices criticizing altcoins are likely driven by inertial thinking. If you don't break free from this mindset, you'll miss opportunities again and again—those who get on board will always complain about being slow, and those who don't rise will always complain about being bad.

Investing ultimately depends on two things: first, understanding market trends; and second, choosing the right sectors and currencies with potential. With BTC already at $120,000 and ETH at $4,300, the optimal time to invest at low levels has passed. To achieve high returns with low risk, you need to be well-positioned for the next breakout opportunity.Otherwise, when the value currency truly launches, you'll be left watching from the sidelines.