The market looks calm on the surface, but behind every fluctuation lies a story.

For the past two weeks, I've been watching BTC hover around $90,000 and ETH around $3,000, repeatedly tugging back and forth, leaving many feeling anxious. Prices won't move up or down significantly, yet positions are becoming increasingly risky. Buying more feels like chasing a high, selling feels like giving up—many people start doubting themselves, thinking their market analysis skills are lacking. But that's not the case; it's a completely different story.

The discomfort you're feeling precisely indicates that something is happening.

**A sharp drop is scary, so the game has changed**

The old approach was straightforward: a big bearish candle scares retail investors into selling, while the big players easily accumulate at the bottom. Now, that’s no longer the case. A steep decline can crash the entire market, and a rebound might cause retail investors to rush in en masse. So, the smart move is to take a new route: use time to exchange for space, and let volatility wear down traders’ patience.

The core is really just two words—torture.

Even when a breakout seems imminent, the price hits a high of and then pulls back immediately; each rebound is lower than the previous one. Want to catch the bottom? The $87,400 level stubbornly holds, making you think "this is the bottom," but in reality, you can't do anything. Swing trading? The price drifts within a small range for days, and you haven't even covered your transaction costs. Looking at the long-term? Other hot coins are making headlines daily, while your holdings feel dead, and anxiety skyrockets.

This is exactly what the main players want: I won't crash the market outright, but I’ll make you doubt yourself through repeated oscillations, eventually leading you to voluntarily hand over your chips.

**Seemingly harmless fluctuations hide three major tricks**

The first trick is locking the range. BTC is tightly stuck between $86,500 and $90,500, oscillating within this zone, rendering technical analysis almost useless. You analyze with various indicators, thinking it makes sense, but at critical moments, signals flash—no clear breakout or breakdown. At this point, most start doubting technical analysis itself. But it’s not that the tools are bad; they simply haven't been given a real chance to work.

The second trick is repeatedly testing support. The same price level is touched over and over, each time seeming like a breakdown is imminent, then bouncing back. The goal is to gauge retail traders’ psychological bottom—how long can they hold before they give up and sell? Through this repeated probing, the main players precisely find the most effective entry points.

The third trick is time consumption. The longer the sideways movement lasts, the more patience wears thin. Anxiety overcomes rationality, and those who finally break are often not pushed out by a crash but worn down by boredom in the sideways range.

**How to respond? First, calm your mind**

First, understand one thing: this kind of situation also costs the main players. Maintaining such a prolonged sideways range requires continuous capital input, and they are betting that retail traders can’t hold on. So instead of obsessively watching the tiny price movements after the decimal point, it’s better to focus on the bigger picture.

The ETF market now plays a significant role in influencing trends; institutional capital movements often matter more than retail sentiment. Paying attention to publicly available data in this area might be more insightful than analyzing technical charts.

Second, know when it’s time for you to act. Not every fluctuation is worth participating in. When the sideways range is clearly broken, and trading volume aligns with the price direction, that’s the real opportunity. Until then, missing out is also a choice.

Finally, adopt a diversified mindset. Don’t put all your chips into one coin or bet on a specific price point. Spread your investments across BTC, ETH, and other hot coins. This way, you can seize opportunities while reducing psychological pressure.

**The bottom line is quite clear**

Returning to the initial question: Should I add to my positions, reduce, or wait? The answer depends on your understanding of your own risk tolerance. If your mindset is already wavering, reducing your holdings might be the most rational decision. If you can still endure, set a stop-loss and keep observing.

The main players fear most when trading is when traders stick to their plans. You either act according to your plan or simply stop watching the market. The worst is being restless, scared by every small fluctuation, and constantly changing your plan.

The market will eventually show a clear direction. Until then, those who can hold their ground have already won half the battle.