Last night's crypto market once again staged a thrilling drama. A self-proclaimed veteran player, frequently showcasing million-dollar-scale altcoin holdings, a "well-known figure," experienced the entire process of $PIPPIN trading—from resisting liquidation, adding to positions, to ultimately being liquidated for 5 million USD. The whole process resembled a carefully scripted soap opera, but the ending was brutally laid out in front of everyone.

What’s even more heartbreaking is that this market evolution turned into a true double kill—no matter which side contract traders bet on, the result was the same: liquidation. A harsh market truth was thus fully exposed: those "whale" large holdings displays are nine times out of ten just traps to lure retail investors into the market.

When narratives can be arbitrarily manipulated and candlestick charts can be artificially "drawn," what is there left for retail investors to trust?

**Experienced veteran traders know very well**

A fundamental rule runs through the entire market: large holdings, especially those involving small-cap coins, are always kept absolutely secret. Actively "showing off" positions publicly usually falls into these categories:

**The first and most common is—it's very convenient for attracting follow-on orders to sell off.** When your positions become an open "target," you completely lose control and become the perfect prey for snipers.

**The second is seeking community consensus to pump the price, but the risks are extremely high.** Such operations often end in tragedy.

**The third is pure arrogance and ignorance.**

The $PIPPIN incident perfectly exemplifies the first pattern. Once the positions are made public, control no longer belongs to the holder.

**The problem isn’t the market itself, but whom we choose to trust**

After experiencing many lessons like this, more and more participants are adjusting their strategies. Instead of fixating on the movements of some "big shot," it’s better to focus on underlying protocols that embed "decentralization" and "transparency" into their DNA. These on-chain mechanisms ensure the verifiability of the rules of the game—no one can arbitrarily tamper with them, and there’s no room for "showing off" with obvious signals.

Retail investors who want to survive longer must do one thing: forget all the halos of "big shots" and only trust what can be verified and cannot be manipulated.