Observing recent market trends, many people have noticed an interesting phenomenon: while mainstream coins like BTC and ETH are declining, coins such as ZEC, BCH, and DASH are actually rising against the trend. What is the reason behind this? Many experienced traders point out that the price movements of these coins are often controlled by a few large players. Their trading logic is quite clear—when the bears accumulate large positions, the market manipulators deliberately push up the price to create a false impression of strength, luring in short-sellers and then trapping them. Once the short positions are cleared, the main players will then let the price fall after completing their short positions. This kind of manipulation is especially dangerous for retail traders.

Why is shorting so risky? A classic example illustrates this well: Elon Musk once revealed that Bill Gates was shorting Tesla, ultimately losing over $10 billion. This is not a coincidence but highlights the inherent disadvantages of shorting.

Look at the data to understand this better. Suppose the initial price is 100 units: in a long position, five consecutive limit-up days (each up 10%) would push the price to 161 units. The next limit-up would add 16.1 units. But in a short position, five consecutive limit-down days (each down 10%) would bring the price down to 59 units. The next limit-down would only decrease the price by 5.9 units.

Compare 16.1 to 5.9—how big is the difference? This means that longs can endure the volatility and survive the shakeouts, while shorts are different—the more the price drops, the less the profit, but the risk of liquidation increases sharply. For coins like ZEC with high market control, choosing to short carries an even higher risk. Market manipulators are well aware of this, which is why they precisely hunt for the bears.