Honestly, playing with cryptocurrencies now seems to be no longer a game for ordinary people.

This feeling is especially pronounced in 2026. The era of easy profits, where you could just sit back and earn, is truly fading away.

Remember a few years ago? Just picking any project, stories of 100x, 1000x, 10,000x returns played out every day. And now? Finding a 10x opportunity is as difficult as climbing to the sky. Many people, throughout the entire bull market, not only failed to make money but barely broke even or even suffered small losses.

Why is this happening? The data tells the story.

**Institutions are rapidly taking over, retail investors are retreating**

Back in the 2017 and 2021 bull markets, it was basically retail investors celebrating wildly. Fueled by FOMO, waves of meme coins, DeFi, NFTs—anything that dared to be invested in could make you money. At that time, institutions were still watching from the sidelines.

But by 2025-2026, the situation has completely reversed.

The data doesn’t lie:

The proportion of institutional holdings in Bitcoin ETFs has already risen significantly to around 24%, while retail investors? In 2025, they sold about 247,000 BTC, worth $23 billion. In other words, retail investors are fleeing, and institutions are buying.

Last year, global crypto ETFs attracted $130 billion in inflows, setting a new record. But where did this money mainly come from? Large corporations, institutional investors, and new financial instruments like digital asset bonds. Retail investors’ money? Continually shrinking.

You can see the signs from small transactions: small orders of $0-$1 have plummeted by 66%. And what about large orders over millions? The volume is steadily increasing. It’s like telling a story: big players are entering, small retail investors are exiting.

**Returns are returning from fantasy to reality**

Those exaggerated gains in the past were essentially caused by low liquidity and few participants, leading to price volatility. Once institutional funds flood in, the market becomes deeper and more stable, and volatility naturally narrows. This is actually a sign of market maturity, but for retail investors, it means the window for quick profits is closing.

The myth of wealth creation in crypto is gradually fading. This isn’t a bad thing; in fact, it indicates the market is becoming more regulated. But for those hoping to turn things around with a big move, the difficulty has indeed increased.