Why is it getting harder and harder to make money in the cryptocurrency circle?
Why does this bull market cause so much pain for so many people?
Why do we watch the market move right in front of us, yet still fail to make money?
The answer is actually very simple —
Under the current market structure, it is already very difficult for retail investors to make real big money.
Return to the origin and talk about the changes in all of this.
The early cryptocurrency world was a real experiment in wealth democratization.
In 2014, any ordinary person who was willing to participate in the Ethereum ICO could buy in at 30 cents and now reap ten thousand times the return.
In 2020, Solana launched, going from $0.22 to $140, achieving an astonishing 600 times return.
At that time, there were no thresholds. No early locking. Everyone who arrived early had the chance to share in the unlimited rise.
But today is different.
L1 and L2 projects had already raised hundreds of millions before going live.
When tokens go live, valuations have been pushed to the sky, and retail investors can only access the leftovers sold off by VCs.
Retail investors have been completely marginalized.
It's like the traditional market, where early investment returns were left to VCs and PEs, and what retail investors got after IPOs were just highly diluted, growth-depleted scraps.
Even if it's an airdrop, at its core, it's just a symbolic 'donation'.
An airdrop from EigenLayer, no matter how much it is tossed around, only yields a few hundred dollars.
You can hardly see opportunities anymore where ordinary participation can lead to a hundredfold wealth.
The real problem is not memes, not shitcoins, but the changes in the entire market structure.
And the deeper truth is:
In the cryptocurrency circle, making money always belongs to those who can exclude emotional interference.
Looking back, why can those who make money from trading be profitable?
Because they have a clear plan: when to buy, when to sell, how much to take profit, how much to stop loss — cold and ruthless, never FOMO, never fantasizing.
What about those who make money by hoarding coins?
They never care about news, don’t mind short-term fluctuations, just mechanically dollar-cost averaging repeatedly — neither joyful, nor angry, nor sad.
People who make money from contracts?
How much leverage to open, how much to take profit, how much to stop loss, all are part of a fixed system. Win, take profit; lose, stop. Never increase positions emotionally, nor 'hold on a bit.'
What about those who make money by grabbing airdrops?
They brushed through project after project, taking what they can get, and if they can't get it, they just continue. They will never collapse emotionally due to a single mistake.
And what about those who are KOLs?
They are also cold observers. Taking rebates, collecting promotional fees, etc., never empathizing with losing users. Because once they get emotional, they can’t survive either.
The only commonality among those who truly make money in the cryptocurrency circle is: emotions are frozen.
Investment failures, most of the time, are not due to wrong judgments, but because emotions intrude on your decisions.
—— When buying, thinking about getting rich, being kidnapped by greed;
—— When selling, unable to part with it, fantasizing about further rises, being strangled by greed;
—— In a downturn, panic, losing direction;
—— In an uptrend, excitement, forgetting oneself.
Every emotional surge is a cut to one’s own flesh.
Simons — the father of quantitative analysis, achieved 64% annualized returns through pure mathematical models, far exceeding Buffett.
And the reason he can do it is that he completely excludes emotions and trades solely based on data and models.
Before this, he relied on macro fundamentals for 13 years without making money, until he gave up human nature.
Investment is a cruel game against your own emotions.
Even the simplest BTC dollar-cost averaging looks easy, but it’s actually the hardest.
Slow. Loss. Loneliness.
This is inherently anti-human nature, requiring you to grit your teeth and endure through countless doubts, anxieties, and shakes.
Smart people actually do poorly because they think too much and are too easily influenced by emotions.
On the contrary, those with average qualifications, but firm and simple beliefs, can rely on dollar-cost averaging to cross cycles and enjoy compound interest.
Why do truly powerful people go to practice, retreat, and stay away from the hustle and bustle?
Because they know, the biggest enemy is not the market, but themselves.
Whether it's excitement or frustration, both are distractions.
The more emotions involved, the more distorted the actions, and the worse the outcomes.
In the cryptocurrency circle, if you want to be someone who makes money, there is only one way:
Exclude emotions
Maintain the system
Endure loneliness
Wait for the strike
In the future, there will definitely still be opportunities for retail investors, but they won't be for emotional people.
Real opportunities are hidden in the garbage time, belonging to those who can endure loneliness and withstand solitude.
Before the next big opportunity arrives, the most important cultivation is to refine oneself.
Even if the market cools off, even if the situation is painfully boring, please do not forget:
You have to be a hunter, not prey.
Wait, without anxiety;
Layout, without fantasy;
Harvest, with no mercy.
Spring will not announce itself in advance, but it always rewards those who are prepared.
If you also want to evolve during garbage time and not be a slave to emotions,
then we can walk far together.
—— Jiang Nan
If you find this article useful, feel free to share and follow me 'Jiang Nan's Notes', let’s discard illusions together and step into the next cycle with clarity.
