Retail participation shapes market dynamics in interesting ways. When panic hits, they're often the first to exit positions—fear drives their decisions more than fundamentals. They operate on a different timeline than institutional players: quick trades, fast reactions, minimal research depth. Most treat crypto as a trading game rather than long-term investment thesis. Their role matters though—they'll eventually form the user base for these networks, not necessarily as believers holding for years, but as active participants in the ecosystem. Short-term traders, reactive to sentiment shifts, lacking deep protocol understanding—yet their volume and activity keep markets liquid and fluid.