In the crypto discussion forums at 3 a.m., on one side people are posting contract screenshots and shouting "get rich quick," while on the other side, they are crying "lost everything" — this level of surrealism is even more outrageous than TV dramas. For big movers like SOL, the day before there were rumors that "someone made enough from contracts to buy a house," and then suddenly news broke of "over 100,000 liquidations." Having immersed myself in this market for 8 years, I have to be straightforward: stop blaming contracts for being like casinos; they are even more ruthless — this is basically a "harvesting tool" that has mastered human weaknesses.

Many new retail investors think the same way: "Contracts = small bets for big gains," using 10,000 yuan with 20x leverage, fantasizing about lying down and earning 200,000. But most people haven't seen the hidden "landmines" in the rules set by exchanges. Take the funding rate mechanism, for example: perpetual contracts have no delivery date, relying solely on this rate to anchor the spot price. When the rate is positive, longs pay shorts; when negative, the opposite happens, settled every 8 hours. I've seen the most tragic retail traders, holding onto the idea of "long-term bullish SOL," only to endure three days of positive funding rates, with their position value being directly deducted by 0.3% daily. Before the market turns, their principal is already eaten up by fees.

What’s even more infuriating is that what you see as "opportunity" volatility is often a trap set by big funds. For example, during the ETH price movement on January 5, a whale dumped $20.53 million in long positions, earning $37,000 in 10 minutes and then fleeing, leaving retail traders chasing the high and taking the hit. Why do retail traders always get cut? I believe it boils down to three fundamental misconceptions: first, treating leverage as a "get-rich-quick tool"; second, underestimating the "invisible scissors" of funding rates; third, completely failing to see through the strategies of big funds.