Some people are still staring at charts and waiting for a "key breakthrough," but the current situation where Ethereum hovers around $3100 doesn't seem like it’s building strength; it looks more like an eerie calm before the storm. The problem is, there are $2 billion worth of liquidation orders buried underground, and any small movement could trigger a chain reaction. If you still don’t understand what’s going on, you’re basically already in a position to be harvested.

Having been immersed in the crypto market for over ten years, I’ve seen the 2021 crash that fell from heaven to hell, endured the industry blowups in 2023, and witnessed countless newcomers whose accounts went to zero overnight simply because they didn’t understand the word "liquidation." Honestly, this moment is more dangerous than any other point in history. Those seemingly calm minor fluctuations are filled with the brutal game of "either you liquidate others or others liquidate you."

Let me explain what liquidation is to those who just entered the market—don’t get confused by a bunch of financial jargon. Simply put, liquidation in leverage trading is "forced liquidation." For example, if you use 9x leverage to go long on Ethereum, hoping to make a quick profit, but the price keeps falling and breaches your margin threshold, the exchange will close your position directly. It’s not executed at a good price but at the worst price at that moment, meaning you not only lose your principal but may also owe money. Even more terrifying, these forcibly sold positions can trigger a "chain reaction"—subsequent liquidations will continue to trigger new ones, like dominoes falling one after another, unstoppable.

Why am I specifically bringing this up? Because data doesn’t lie, and this data makes my scalp tingle. Over $900 million in long positions are stacked on mainstream trading platforms—what does that mean? Once market sentiment shifts, these become "waiting to be harvested." Every time the price breaks a key level, a wave of concentrated liquidations will be triggered, pushing the price down further, which in turn causes more liquidations—this is the "liquidation vortex."

So what you need to do now isn’t trying to make quick money but surviving to see the next bull market. Stay away from leverage, especially high leverage; if you must trade, leave enough margin for buffer; most importantly, don’t risk all your assets on a single trade. In front of the liquidation vortex, even the most savvy traders are just leeks—only difference is whether they protect their principal.