There has been a recurring question in the crypto world over the past couple of years—which is more stable, spot trading or futures contracts? To be honest, asking this question itself is an outdated mindset.

Many people still hold onto the old perception: spot is safe, futures are risky. But the reality has long since changed. Look at those who only do spot trading around you—holding a bunch of coins, their accounts dropping from 1 million to 100,000, and in the end, needing a 10x increase to break even—that probability is basically zero.

The root of the problem isn't the tools themselves, but the strategy. The crypto market today is no longer the era of "buy any coin and wait for the bull market to double." Out of hundreds of assets, only a few can triple in value, let alone the days of relying on one coin to surge dozens of times—those days are gone.

What is the truth? The market is changing.

Year by year, the crypto space is becoming more like traditional finance—volatility is converging, and the dividends are disappearing. The opportunities for individual stocks (or coins) to explode are becoming fewer. What does this mean? It means that the old story of "a coin doubling or tripling" is basically dead in the secondary market.

So how to make money? There are only two ways: either have a large enough capital pool or wait for enough volatility. Since capital might not be sufficient, you need to learn how to ride the waves—that's where swing trading comes in.

Being able to consistently earn 10% to 30% returns is already a very good achievement. The few stable profit-makers I know do it this way: enter, ride a wave, exit, wait for the next opportunity—no greed, no impatience, gradually accumulating small wins into big wins.

So don’t get caught up in whether to do spot or futures anymore; the real dividing line is: can you do swing trading?