The days when you could casually buy a small coin and make a profit of dozens of times are long gone. Now, sticking to the old ways of playing is basically just digging a pit for yourself.

The market in 2021 is something many people have heard about. Bitcoin took the lead, and then altcoins seemed to be on steroids, with various obscure tokens able to multiply tenfold or twentyfold. It was absolutely insane.

But now it's 2025, and this kind of "full bloom" market is basically nowhere to be seen. It's not because the market is bad, but because the entire game rules have fundamentally changed. Institutional funds are pouring in, the regulatory framework is being improved, and new projects are piling up—these changes have completely transformed the rising logic of altcoins.

After years of analyzing the crypto market, today I'll straightforwardly explain how altcoins are currently being played, and help you avoid those obvious pitfalls.

**The market has been refreshed, and the rise and fall patterns of altcoins are completely different**

What was the situation back then? Retail investors held onto their money and would chase highs in an emotional frenzy. As long as Bitcoin stabilized, hot money would start to sweep around, any altcoin could benefit, and the entire market would go wild. At that time, it was indeed possible to make money just by relying on "luck."

What about now? The main players have changed. It's no longer the retail investors' chatter driving the market, but rather the calm calculations of institutional funds. Institutions are entering the market through compliant channels—such as ETFs and trusts. Their requirements for projects have changed: it's no longer about who has the loudest voice, but rather who has the fundamentals and who meets regulatory expectations.

The result is that institutional funds are highly concentrated in mainstream assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum. Since 2025, the ETF products for these two coins have an astonishing ability to attract capital. However, this money will not flood into altcoins like it used to.