Wintermute: Market's Ability to Recover in 2026 Hinges on Three Key Factors, Market in Desperate Need of FOMO Injection
BlockBeats News, January 14th, Wintermute, a cryptocurrency market maker, analyzed in its digital asset OTC market review: The 2025 traditional four-year cycle performance of Bitcoin is weak, and the altcoin cycle has almost disappeared. This is not a temporary adjustment but a structural change. Therefore, for the crypto market to truly rebound strongly in 2026, it highly depends on the following three key outcomes, with at least one of them needing to occur:
ETFs and Crypto Treasury (DAT) companies will expand their investment scope beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum. Currently, the US spot BTC/ETH ETF has highly concentrated liquidity on a few large-cap tokens, leading to a narrower market breadth and severe performance differentiation. Only when more coins are included by institutions through ETFs or corporate treasuries, is it possible to restore broader market participation and liquidity.
Major assets such as BTC, ETH, BNB, SOL, etc., show strong performance again, generating widespread wealth effects. The 2025 traditional "BTC rise followed by capital flow into altcoins" cycle has fundamentally broken. The average uptrend cycle for altcoins is only about 20 days (compared to around 60 days the previous year), with most tokens experiencing continued declines due to unlocked selling pressure. Only when the top assets surge again can the capital potentially overflow downwards, triggering an altseason.
Retail investors' attention returns to the crypto market. Currently, retail investors are still actively involved in the market, but their funds are mainly allocated to dollar-cost averaging into the S&P 500, AI, robotics, quantum computing, and other high-growth themes. The painful memories of 2022-2023 (plunges, bankruptcies, liquidations) combined with crypto's underperformance compared to the traditional stock market in 2025 have greatly reduced many people's attraction to the "get-rich-quick" allure of crypto. Only with a large-scale return of retail investors can the market regain its fervent momentum.
You may also like
The Trader's Playbook: 7 Market Cycle Lessons From LALIGA’s 90 Minutes
What do LALIGA matches teach about crypto markets? Learn how consolidation, breakouts, and late-cycle volatility shape disciplined trading decisions.
How Smart Money Tracker Survived Live AI Trading at WEEX AI Hackathon
Discover how WEEX AI Trading Hackathon tested strategies with real capital—no simulations. See how Smart Money Tracker survived flash crashes and leveraged 18x in live markets.
80% Win Rate to 40% Drawdown: An AI Trader's Brutal Recalibration at WEEX AI Wars
Dive into the technical blueprint of an AI trading system built on LLaMA reasoning and multi-agent execution. See how Quantum Quaser uses confidence thresholds & volatility filters at WEEX AI Wars, and learn the key to unlocking 95% win rate trades.
AI Trading Strategy Explained: How a Beginner Tiana Reached the WEEX AI Trading Hackathon Finals
Can AI trading really outperform human emotion? In this exclusive WEEX Hackathon finalist interview, discover how behavioral signal strategies, SOL trend setups, and disciplined AI execution secured a spot in the finals.

When AI Takes Over the 'Shopping Journey,' How Much Time Does PayPal Have Left?

Bloomberg: Aid Turkey Freeze $1 Billion Assets, Tether Remakes Compliance Boundary

Polymarket vs. Kalshi: The Full Meme War Timeline

Consensus Check: What Consensus Was Born at the 2026 First Conference?

Resigned in Less Than a Year of Taking Office, Why Did Yet Another Key Figure at the Ethereum Foundation Depart?

Russian-Ukrainian War Prediction Market Analysis Report

Ethereum Foundation Executive Director Resigns, Coinbase Rating Downgrade: What's the Overseas Crypto Community Talking About Today?

Who's at the CFTC Table? A Rebalancing of American Fintech Discourse
AI Trading vs Human Crypto Traders: $10,000 Live Trading Battle Results in Munich, Germany (WEEX Hackathon 2026)
Discover how AI trading outperformed human traders in WEEX's live Munich showdown. Learn 3 key strategies from the battle and why AI is changing crypto trading.
Elon Musk's X Money vs. Crypto's Synthetic Dollars: Who Wins the Future of Money?
How do Synthetic Dollars work? This guide explains their strategies, benefits over traditional stablecoins like USDT, and risks every crypto trader must know.

The Israeli military is hunting a mole on Polymarket

Q4 $667M Net Loss: Coinbase Earnings Report Foreshadows Challenging 2026 for Crypto Industry?

BlackRock Buying UNI, What's the Catch?

Lost in Hong Kong
The Trader's Playbook: 7 Market Cycle Lessons From LALIGA’s 90 Minutes
What do LALIGA matches teach about crypto markets? Learn how consolidation, breakouts, and late-cycle volatility shape disciplined trading decisions.
How Smart Money Tracker Survived Live AI Trading at WEEX AI Hackathon
Discover how WEEX AI Trading Hackathon tested strategies with real capital—no simulations. See how Smart Money Tracker survived flash crashes and leveraged 18x in live markets.
80% Win Rate to 40% Drawdown: An AI Trader's Brutal Recalibration at WEEX AI Wars
Dive into the technical blueprint of an AI trading system built on LLaMA reasoning and multi-agent execution. See how Quantum Quaser uses confidence thresholds & volatility filters at WEEX AI Wars, and learn the key to unlocking 95% win rate trades.
AI Trading Strategy Explained: How a Beginner Tiana Reached the WEEX AI Trading Hackathon Finals
Can AI trading really outperform human emotion? In this exclusive WEEX Hackathon finalist interview, discover how behavioral signal strategies, SOL trend setups, and disciplined AI execution secured a spot in the finals.