I feel like I've become numb to this round of alts market.

There have been several rotations in the past, but this time it's really a mess—a half relying on nostalgic hype and the other half is just a pure liquidity harvesting game.

The story starts with ZEC. In 40 days, $50 surged directly to $750, a 14-fold increase that drove the entire alts market crazy. Then the privacy coin sector and ZK concepts took off collectively: DASH, MINA, STRK, and ZEN performed in succession, even ancient coins like DGB, DCR, and GLM jumped along. What was the result? Most have already been cut in half from their highs, exceeding 50%. Once the ZEC narrative cooled down, the hot money disappeared in an instant.

Next came the hype of AI + storage: ICP, FIL, AR, FET, RENDER, NEAR... these old coins suddenly got packaged as "the new darlings of AI infrastructure." ICP tripled in a week, FIL tripled in two days, NEAR is currently performing the most steadily. But to be honest, there are no new stories behind these price increases, it's just taking advantage of the liquidity of coins that haven't moved in years.

Looking at the new contracts from a major exchange: AIA, SOON, H, JELLYJELLY... it's all the same trick - low circulation, serious control of the market, a tenfold increase in a few hours, followed by a direct 90% retracement after short sellers are liquidated. The casino never stops.

The DEX track does have some real things: HYPE continues to dominate in the perpetual contract field; UNI has finally seen some improvement due to the fee-burning proposal; AERO is also steadily climbing before the Dromos event. These have at least some fundamental support.

In summary: the market has no direction at all. Old coins rely on sentiment, new coins rely on traps, and most hot topics can't last more than a week. I'm only focusing on NEAR, UNI, STRK, and SEI; I can't be bothered to chase the other noise.

The altcoin season has just begun, and it's already so crazy.