To be honest, today’s market was already decided the moment it opened.

When placing orders in the morning, I was still wondering if there would be a turnaround, but less than five minutes after the opening, the market software was flashing green everywhere—over 4,000 stocks were falling. Looking at the minute chart, the white line was pressed below the yellow line, and this scene felt all too familiar: the same old trick of propping up a few heavyweight stocks for appearances while slaughtering theme stocks and small caps as usual.

At times like this, talking about “bottom-fishing” or “buying the dip” is just fooling yourself. With market sentiment this poor, even if there are a few rebounds during the session, it won’t change the overall environment. “The opening decides the outcome” is not a joke.

I’ve said it before about December—don’t expect any big surprises. And sure enough, the whole market feels like it’s wound down and too lazy to move. Funds are on the sidelines, retail investors are suffering, and every day we just watch the index drift along sluggishly.

The best strategy at this stage? Sit on your hands. If you’re heavily positioned, just treat it as watching a show and wait until market sentiment hits rock bottom. If there’s a real crash and panic selling, then you might consider taking a small position to catch a rebound. But if it’s just this kind of weak, slow “boiling frog” choppy market, don’t bother—trading in and out will just make your losses worse.

**Let me highlight one risk that many people haven’t noticed yet.**

Micro-cap stocks—the batch of small-cap stocks that went crazy this year—should be avoided now. Every year at the end of the year, the same thing happens: liquidity tightens, and those micro-caps pumped up by quant funds become extremely risky as liquidity risk erupts. You may think your stock is still holding up, but when you really want to sell, the buy side might suddenly vanish. This isn’t fear-mongering; it’s the usual script at the end and start of every year.

Quant funds need to settle and rebalance at year-end, and a lot of micro-cap stock positions will be dumped all at once. If retail investors are still trying to hold on, they might be left holding the bag. So if you can get out now, do it—don’t get greedy.

As for today’s market, there are a few details worth mentioning.

Leading the gains were lithium mining and robotics concepts. The reason is simple—last night, the robotics sector in the US market soared, supposedly because Trump is pushing some kind of robotics industry policy. So today, A-share funds just followed the hype, with zero original logic or main theme.

This is the most awkward thing about the market right now: either mindlessly chasing after fleeting news, or copying the US market. There’s no independent trend to speak of, so it’s no wonder people feel lost.

In this environment, chasing strength is just giving money away. It's better to focus on a few stocks you’re familiar with—buy when they drop a lot, sell quickly when they rebound, and forget about any “big picture” or “long-term holding.” Now is not the time for big-picture thinking; making some short-term profits is already good enough.

For those who just chased high-flying stocks and got stuck today, don’t rush to cut your losses—unless you just bought in. If you’re deeply stuck, selling at the bottom is pointless, but if you’re a recent high-level buyer, you should stop your losses instead of fantasizing about a reversal tomorrow.

**As for the current index level, I’m not particularly pessimistic.**

There’s not much room for a big drop, but the problem is it won’t give you a decent rebound either. It just grinds on, making you doubt life, until everyone loses patience—only then might a turnaround come.

Why is it so grinding? Year-end liquidity is tight, big funds are on holiday, and the only players left are hot money and quant traders. What’s worse, every day after the market closes, there are a bunch of major shareholders’ reduction announcements, which continuously erodes market confidence.

So December is a risk-release period—flush out the bubbles, clear out the weak hands, and only then can a spring rally possibly start. Right now, it’s the darkness before the dawn. Get through it, and it’ll be better, but enduring it is tough.

Finally, a word about the broker sector.

If there’s any hope for the market today, it’s likely up to the brokers to pull things up. Not because brokers will let you recoup your losses, but because whenever market sentiment is frozen, brokers need to rally to boost morale. That’s their tool-like function—to save the day.

But don’t expect the brokers to keep rebounding. There may be a short-term turning point and a rush to stabilize sentiment, but then it’ll go quiet again. So if you do see broker stocks making a move, don’t just jump in blindly. Use their rally and the slight warming of market sentiment as a chance to observe if other sectors are following.

In the end, this stage is all about patience and discipline. If you can’t adapt to this rhythm and insist on trading every day, you’re likely to lose money. Sit on your hands, watch your stocks, and wait for opportunities—these nine words are the most practical strategy for what’s ahead.