Slowly, then all at once.

That's how markets move. The calm before the storm looks deceptively peaceful—prices trade sideways, volatility compresses, retail yawns. Then one catalyst, one liquidation cascade, one piece of news flips the board. What took weeks to build unravels in hours. Bitcoin rallies for months unnoticed, then pumps 20% in a single session. The same applies in reverse during downturns.

This is why watching the chart tick-by-tick is pointless. Real moves happen in clusters. The key is catching the inflection point—when slow accumulation transforms into explosive action.