(Ten Stages of Typical Retail Investors Trading Coins)

Stage One: Invisible
Only insiders and OGs are making arrangements quietly, profiting silently with limited publicity. In this stage, retail investors are very likely to be completely unaware of this project.

Stage Two: Indifferent
Some KOLs with certain investment research abilities begin to enter and promote, but the project is still in early stages, and the biggest KOLs usually look down on it, saying, "The certainty is not high enough." Retail investors may see it, but it doesn't catch their attention because they can see ten similar projects in a day.

Stage Three: Disbelief
KOLs from Stage Two start making money, so they promote even harder. Retail investors still can't be bothered to do any research, viewing those KOLs as bad actors trying to cut them.

Stage Four: Regret
Amidst doubts, as the coin price keeps rising, retail investors start to regret, "I almost bought in back then." They actually don't know how many 'almosts' they've missed, but since it has risen so much, it is absolutely impossible for them to enter the market now.

Stage Five: Value Discovery
The market begins to heat up, and the big KOLs finally start to notice the project and begin to promote it. Detailed technical articles are incredibly persuasive, making it hard for retail investors not to feel tempted. They think, since so many big influencers are just starting to buy, it's probably fine for me to buy a little too, right?

Stage Six: Sweet Period
The small positions they bought along with others indeed start to make a profit, and then suddenly many KOLs who are particularly good at promotion come onto the scene (on one hand, their research ability is the weakest, needing to wait for big KOLs to shout out before they can see the project; on the other hand, the traders are preparing to sell and start spending money to find people to promote). "Missed XX, don't miss YY again," "Where are we now? Look at 1B on Binance." Watching these heated promotional quotes and seeing their profitable small positions, retail investors begin to hesitate: should they increase their positions?

Stage Seven: FOMO
"Why is it still rising?" "Could it really go up 10x as they say?" Damn it, I don't care anymore, I'm all in! I'm cashing out other coins, borrowing money to leverage, and going all out! A final attempt for the seaside villa!

Stage Eight: Correction
As the market reaches its peak, the traders begin to sell off, and the coin price starts to correct. However, the retail investors, who have already been thoroughly brainwashed during the FOMO phase, become even more courageous in the face of adversity, believing that the correction is simply a heavenly opportunity to buy in. They continuously increase their positions, imagining themselves as the lone hero who persists in the truth in the dark before dawn, saying, "In a narrow encounter, the brave win; the market manipulators can't wash me out!"

Stage Nine: Numbness
A drop of 20% might still leave some possibility to cut losses, but once it falls by 50%, most retail investors feel that after such a significant drop, it would be foolish to sell now, so they begin to become numb. They no longer dream of a seaside villa and just hope to break even.

Stage Ten: Bottomless
Retail investors, dead.

Author: Zhang Tangtang