Many friends have been asking me the same question recently—during Federal Reserve rate hikes, should you move your coins? Are those projects claiming to be "unaffected by rate hikes" reliable? As more people ask these questions, I’ve noticed a pattern: novice investors are most likely to get burned at this stage.

What I want to say is that during a rate hike cycle, the risk level in the crypto market clearly increases. Those seemingly attractive returns and bottom-fishing opportunities often hide many tricks behind the scenes. Today, I’ll list the three most common pitfalls, along with real cases, in hopes of helping you avoid a few.

**First Pitfall: False Promises of "Independent Operation"**

Project teams love to do this—they boast to investors, "Our liquidity pool operates independently, and Federal Reserve policies don’t affect us." Honestly, this kind of rhetoric is pure bluff. As long as you’re involved in the crypto ecosystem, you can’t avoid the impact of dollar liquidity. A few years ago, one project tricked many into investing by claiming to have an independent reserve system, only to run away a few months later after funding dried up. Investors’ principal was lost. Remember one thing: in a rate hike environment, any project claiming to be "completely immune" is probably just harvesting.

**Second Pitfall: Chasing Gains and Selling Losses, Bottom-Fishing at the Wrong Time**

When prices drop, beginners can’t resist. Seeing Bitcoin fall from $30,000 to $25,000, they think they’ve found a bargain and put all their savings in. What happens next? Prices keep falling. In the end, they get caught in the middle of a dip, watching their balances shrink gradually. These painful examples happen every rate hike cycle in the market. The cost of blindly bottom-fishing is often more severe than we imagine.

**Third Pitfall: High-Yield Promises as a Harvest Trap**

During rate hikes, liquidity tightens, yet some platforms start throwing money into promotions, promising ultra-high annualized returns. The more unbelievable the promise, the more cautious you should be. These projects are either extremely risky themselves or won’t last long.

The common point among these pitfalls is that they all exploit novice traders’ eagerness to turn things around. The rate hike cycle is indeed a test period for the crypto market. Being cautious with allocations and controlling risks is far more worthwhile than chasing overnight riches.