Is Web3 Dead to Retail Traders?

Web3 is not dead, and BTC continues to see massive weekly inflows. However, the real question is: can retail traders still make money in the crypto space? It is becoming increasingly rare to see people making life-changing money from crypto investments, and trading volumes are decreasing for most altcoins. It seems all the capital is focusing on BTC and a handful of select coins. The rest of the market—even ETH—has not performed particularly well in this bull run that started in 2023.

The problem is that as more institutional money enters the market, it focuses almost exclusively on BTC. In previous bull runs, the cycle was predictable: BTC would lead, followed by ETH, then altcoins, and finally "trash" or meme coins before the market collapsed. Now, the cycle is simply BTC, a few select altcoins, and then back to BTC again. This shift is causing low liquidity across the majority of the market.

This affects everyone because the crypto space is composed of diverse participants: DeFi farmers, airdrop hunters, short-term investors, meme coin enthusiasts, and venture capitalists. Most of them are not having a good time. Even influencers are struggling due to low trading volumes, which have significantly lowered their rebates.

The issue is that wealth is concentrating in BTC, but small traders are usually chasing 10x or even 100x returns. You generally can't get rich from BTC anymore because its volatility has dropped to 5% or 10%, compared to the 5x or 10x price swings seen back in 2016. At the same time, altcoins are underperforming, and the "retail mania" money is not flowing into meme coins as it once did.

This has left many people in the crypto space confused; opportunities feel limited, and every day becomes more difficult. Furthermore, professional traders from Wall Street are entering the arena, squeezing the market even further. Every bull run seems to get harder, and the chance of earning life-changing money feels more out of reach.

Will this change? I don't know. We might see a shift if new innovations emerge, similar to how we previously saw the rise of NFTs, GameFi, Inscriptions, or SocialFi. The crypto space often invents something new just when it looks "dead" to regular people like you and me. However, it's also possible that this shift won't happen, and people will choose to join the U.S. stock market ride rather than venture into crypto.

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