Some Cold Reflections on the Current Market—Why Aren’t Big Players Worried About Retail Investors Buying the Dip?

There’s a harsh reality in the market: no matter how many times prices are slashed in half, large institutions aren’t afraid of you going all in and buying the spot dip. The reason is simple—the scale of the tokens they hold is something outsiders can never truly grasp.

Right now, the entire market is shrouded in panic. Even BTC can’t withstand the plunge, which shows that capital is starting to doubt the “digital gold” narrative as a safe haven. As for other altcoins, it goes without saying. Huge amounts of money are fleeing at any cost; even if prices drop another tenfold from current levels, it’s not an issue for the big players with massive token holdings—their pools are bottomless. No matter how much you buy in, they can absorb it all.

What’s even more critical is that, during the decline, there’s a constant stream of leveraged longs rushing in to “donate” money. The profits from harvesting these contract funds are thousands of times higher than simply dumping spot. Looking back at the past decade or so, the trend is clear: the previous years were about laying the net, and now it’s time to haul it in.

At this stage, the cost-effectiveness of big money pumping the market is extremely low. For example, it might take $10 million to push prices up now, but they’d rather wait until there’s nothing left to squeeze, when $100,000 could trigger a rally of hundreds of percentage points. By then, spot holders are numb and inactive, and a new wave of FOMO buyers will rush in, ready to be harvested again.

This cycle will keep repeating, depending on how much fresh capital is still willing to enter and take the bait.