I was recently struck by a perspective: conservative investors often end up bearing the systemic risks of the market. This resonated deeply with me.

Having navigated the crypto space for many years, I’ve seen too many such investors—those who climb the corporate ladder by playing it safe, or traders who follow mainstream consensus. When others say a top platform is stable, they go all in; when mainstream coins resist dips, they heavily concentrate their holdings, never daring to break the established "safety framework." And then?

They either face sudden liquidity black swans from the platform or are precisely harvested by macro policy changes, with their principal shrinking significantly, all while pretending everything is normal in front of their families. These people aren’t lazy—they research candlestick charts until dawn; they’re not reckless—never leverage on derivatives. But why do the more cautious often fall into traps?

The key lies in a severely underestimated risk: the "systemic risk" of the crypto market won’t spare you just because you’re conservative enough. Many believe "following the herd is safer," but in reality, the biggest consensus in crypto is often the biggest "scythe"—the largest "harvester." A few years ago, a major exchange’s scandal was a typical example—many investors poured all their funds into it because "everyone is using this platform." As a result, during a liquidity crisis, they went from middle class to debt.

This isn’t bad luck; it’s a thinking trap. The essence of systemic risk is: when everyone does the same thing, that thing is most likely to go wrong.