How do retail investors actually make money in the digital asset market? I’ve summarized a few common methods and their reliability.

**Information Arbitrage**: Sounds tempting, but the barrier is getting higher. In the past, it was about who knew the news first; now, it’s about who can interpret it more deeply. Your ability to understand industry trends and policy changes determines whether you can buy the dip. Newbies trying this? Nine out of ten get caught off guard.

**Price Differences Between Exchanges**: Forget it. Robots have already taken over this market, leveling the price differences within milliseconds. By the time you manually execute a trade, the profit has already evaporated. It’s time-consuming, labor-intensive, and likely to lose money. Why bother?

**High-Probability Options Buying**: This is somewhat better. The core idea is to select options in the 95-99 cent range, but you need to calculate the time cost carefully. Under current interest rate environments, don’t be blinded by yields; perhaps the stable returns of money market funds are more cost-effective.

**Market Maker Model**: Making a profit from spreads sounds attractive, but this is a game for professional institutions. It requires sufficient capital and skilled operation techniques. Ordinary investors are likely to be caught off guard by market volatility.

**Specializing in a Niche**: This is the most practical approach. Political games, entertainment box office, industry policies—if you have an informational edge in a certain area, you can establish a competitive advantage. Turning knowledge into profit has the lowest barriers; even beginners can operate.

**High-Frequency Trading**: Don’t even think about it. This has long been monopolized by professional teams. Your network latency and information channels can’t compete with their millisecond-level reactions. Entering blindly is just giving away money.

**What about advanced strategies?** Kelly criterion, arbitrage combinations, reverse betting, predictive models—these sound high-end. But honestly, they require solid math skills, modeling ability, and quick adjustments to market changes every day. The complexity is off the charts. For ordinary investors, it’s just a trap. Beginners only need to understand the principles; it’s really not recommended to practice these actively. Instead of messing with these, it’s better to focus on basic strategies to avoid detours.