Recently, someone asked me again whether to focus on contracts or spot trading this year.

To be honest, this question itself is already outdated.

The real difference isn't in choosing between contracts and spot, but in whether you can do swing trading.

That old logic—"hold spot and wait, using time to gain space"—is no longer popular. I've seen too many people hold spot for two or three years, with their accounts shrinking from 1 million to 100,000 or 200,000. What are they waiting for? To multiply tenfold and break even? Realistically, such opportunities are almost nonexistent for retail investors.

The market has changed.

Exchanges now list hundreds of coins, but only one or two can really double or triple. Can you catch those precisely? The probability is ridiculously low. Whether trading spot or contracts, the current market feels like a game where you have to take a certain move—earning a steady 10% to 30% return is already quite good.

Some friends around me stubbornly hold on, only to see their funds evaporate. It's not that they aren't trying; the market's rules have truly changed. The crypto world is increasingly resembling traditional finance—volatility is shrinking, dividends are fading, and hoping to get rich overnight by blindly guessing? That's basically a daydream.

Retail investors wanting to turn things around have only two paths: either have enough capital to withstand risks, or be able to catch sufficiently fierce swings. But neither of these is common in the current secondary market for retail investors.

So don't expect a coin to give you a fifty or hundred times return.

After 2025, it's all about rhythm, swing trading, and small repeated profits. Those who can keep making money and survive long are those who have shifted from "betting big once" to "making the right small moves every time." They rely on accumulation, not luck.

If you still don't have a clear idea about this kind of market, don't rush to act. Clarify your direction and method first—only then does execution truly become valuable.