In the crypto world, I have been struggling for about ten years, starting with 50,000 yuan and building my wealth to 30 million yuan. I have encountered countless pitfalls and seized a few opportunities. Recently, I have noticed a significant change in the market that may redefine our entire approach to investing in alts.

Looking back at the past bull market cycle, the pattern is basically the same: Bitcoin initiates the rally, Ethereum follows suit, and then funds start to spill over into various alts, creating that classic "rising tide lifts all boats" scenario. But now the logic has completely flipped.

After the approval of the spot ETFs for BTC and ETH, a brand new phenomenon has emerged—traditional funds enter the market and stay firmly in the ETFs, not flowing towards the small alts at all. Why is that? Simply put, the entry channel has changed.

In the past, both retail and institutional investors were active on exchanges, and after the mainstream coins surged, funds naturally flowed down to the alts. Now it's different; ETFs have become the main channel for traditional investors. By purchasing ETFs through large institutions like BlackRock and Fidelity, they effectively hold crypto assets indirectly without having to deal with those unfamiliar alts on exchanges.

What's even more alarming is that mainstream alts like SOL, Dogecoin, and LTC will likely launch ETFs in the future. Institutions like Grayscale have already submitted applications, and the SEC's approval speed is also accelerating. This means that new incremental funds will only focus on those mainstream coins that have ETF backing and are at the top of the market cap. ETFs have effectively become a filter for funds.