Original|Odaily Planet Daily(@OdailyChina)
Author|Wenser(@wenser 2010)
Another Christmas has arrived, but compared to the previously hot "Christmas rally," this year's Christmas feels somewhat quiet for the cryptocurrency market.
BTC is oscillating repeatedly between $85,000 and $90,000; ETH has lost its earlier high-spiritedness after hitting new highs, looking somewhat dejected; mainstream coins like SOL and BNB have been unable to recover since the "October 11th crash," moving further away from their peak prices; as for altcoins? Many might just say, "Sorry, we're not familiar."
In our previous article "4 Key Themes, Composing the 2024 Crypto Seasons Song," we briefly reviewed the industry's development over the past year using 4 quarterly keywords. Limited by the article's theme and length, the experiences of many industry participants were only mentioned in passing. The reason is simple: for the widely concerned theme of "annual investment review," we conducted a questionnaire for over half a month, collecting "annual investment memoirs" from community users, crypto KOLs, well-known traders, media professionals, crypto investors, and other groups.
Here, we can see that despite the market's turbulence between new highs and lows, some people remain at the table and have reaped significant profits. Of course, the other side of success is the disappointment of investors who cut their losses and exited, suffering losses. Through this questionnaire's results and data, we get a glimpse into the true state of crypto market investment and trading today. We will also take this opportunity to briefly review the "missed major opportunities that made people slam their thighs in regret" this year, providing readers with lessons to learn for the battles ahead next year.
2024 Annual Investment Memoirs: Some Will Always Grow Old, But Others Are Forever Young
The following is information from the "Odaily Planet Daily 2024 Annual Investment Review" questionnaire. We will provide a detailed analysis from the perspectives of demographics, investment performance, and areas of focus.
Questionnaire Demographics: Newbies VS Seasoned Players? Over 60% Have Been in the Space for More Than 3 Years
First, let's look at the demographic profile of the questionnaire respondents.
According to the results, over 60% of investors have been in the crypto space for more than 3 years, making them proper "seasoned players." Among them:
The group with 4-6 years in the space is the largest, accounting for about 41%;
The group with 6-8 years accounts for about 12%;
Those with more than 8 years account for about 9%.
Compared to the "3+ years crowd," the number of "newbies" is relatively small. Those with less than 1 year and those with 1-3 years total 21 people, accounting for about 38% of the effective questionnaires.
After reading the questionnaire, my first thought was—"No wonder the cryptocurrency market liquidity is poor, there are fewer and fewer newbies!" (Odaily Planet Daily Note: Limited by the finite number of questionnaires, the above conclusion is based on a single survey result and does not represent the overall demographic structure of the industry.)
Investment Performance: Huge Gains VS Bloody Losses? Profitable Group Accounts for Over 57%
I believe this is the question most people are concerned about—After working hard all year, did I make money or lose money? Am I the only one who lost badly?
Seeing the questionnaire results, I can only say I underestimated everyone's money-making ability—
Percentage of people with significant profits (+50% or more): 17.2%;
Percentage with small profits (0-50%): 39.7%;
Break-even (equivalent to playing for nothing for a year): 15.5%;
Small losses (0-50%): 15.5%;
Significant losses (-50% or more): 12.1%.
In other words, the profitable group accounts for nearly 60%, break-even accounts for about 15%, and over 27% face losses of varying degrees, about three-tenths, far lower than the sentiment reflected in market views and community discussions. In such a volatile monkey market, more people are still making money, which also confirms that the current crypto market indeed has more experienced old-timers. As for newcomers, they are either still struggling in the market mire or have already been hit hard and cut their losses to exit.
Writing this, I can only sigh helplessly: "So many people in the group usually say they're losing money, but am I really the only one actually losing?!"
Profitable Sectors: Meme Coins VS Mainstream Coins? Shitcoins Are Still YYDS
As for the specific profitable areas/sectors/projects/tokens, the questionnaire results are slightly more complex.
Unsurprisingly, Meme coins (shitcoin projects) remain the ultimate way to make money, with about 34% of questionnaire participants mentioning that they mainly profited from projects in this area (a few even mentioned inscriptions—not sure if they were serious or pretending?);
About 26% of investors mainly profited from mainstream coins like BTC, ETH, BNB, SOL. Considering that BTC, ETH, BNB, and SOL all reached new price highs at various stages this year, this performance is not surprising. Of course, it also depends on whether investors took profits timely. Otherwise, blindly being diamond hands can only lead to crying in private;
About 16% voted for DeFi. Considering this was the "year of stablecoins" and there were many "high-end wealth management schemes," this result is not strange. Coupled with the popularity of on-chain Perp DEXs, DeFi experienced a "second spring" in stages;
About 12% of investors' main profits still came from airdrop interactions. Honestly, this result was somewhat unexpected. After all, in the current market with tight liquidity, many crypto project teams have become increasingly stingy with community airdrop allocations to maintain high control and facilitate pump-and-dumps, making it common for projects to end up 'farming' the farmers. But regardless of how the market changes, airdrops remain an essential method for many investors to achieve high returns with low-cost input. Regardless of market heat, there are always some "airdrop masters"坚守岗位 (holding their posts), providing various active data and trading volume for the market and projects, deserving everyone's respect;
Finally, apart from individual projects like TRUMP and ASTER, some people actually listed NFT as a profitable area. I can only say I underestimated the investment strength of traders. Being able to make money in the NFT sector, which is nearly dormant or even dead, deserves nothing less than a "牛 X" (awesome). However, considering that OpenSea's CMO recently called for hiring, it's enough to show that no matter how the market changes, some NFT collectors or traders still believe in this sector and are providing liquidity with their real money. As a member of the "NFT old guard," this is somewhat touching.
In addition, for individual projects, answers like "WET, gold, PING, Binance Alpha, DOGE" were given. These results are not very representative or referential, so they won't be analyzed separately here, only mentioned for note.
Losing Sectors: Meme Coins VS Futures? Data Validates Same Source of Profit and Loss
For every winner, there is a loser.
Regarding specific losing sectors and projects, the questionnaire results once again show the cruel side of the market.
About 28% of investors suffered heavy losses on Meme coins and altcoins, including Binance-listed assets like Giggle and ASTER, Base ecosystem altcoins (e.g., PING), and popular coins like HYPE;
Secondly, another major cause of losses was "black swan events"—some suffered heavy losses on FIL due to issues with staking service providers; others lost bets on Polymarket; additionally, impermanent loss in DeFi protocols, buying BTC, ETH, SOL at high points are all relatively common reasons for losses in the industry;
About 26% of investors stumbled on futures trading. This figure is slightly lower than my personal expectation. As one of the few "active trading venues" in the market this year, futures trading on mainstream coins and altcoins remains the choice of many investors. Considering the volatile statements and frequently changing policies after Trump took office, as well as large-scale liquidation black swans including the "October 11th crash," losses were inevitable;
Furthermore, as representatives of "major failure sectors," NFT, GameFi, and L2-related projects were also the root of losses for many investors. About 22% of people suffered heavy losses because they failed to change their investment mindset timely and held onto assets from a certain sector;
Finally, compared to past investment areas mostly limited to targets within the crypto circle, under the influence of this year's mainstreaming of crypto theme, DAT treasury company stocks also became a choice for many investors. During the market's downward oscillation phase, losses naturally followed: some bought DAT leading stocks like MSTR and BMNR, only to be trapped无奈被套; others suffered heavy losses on the "first stablecoin stock" Circle (CRCL). Former cryptocurrency traders transformed into "distinguished US stock traders," but the change in identity does not necessarily mean smooth investment performance; it could also mean one more channel to lose money.
Reflection on Losses: Timely Profit-Taking VS Decisive Stop-Loss? Profit-Taking is a Required Course in Life
After discussing losses, we also set up a specific question about the reasons for losses in the questionnaire, attempting to find common problems everyone faces.
About one-third attributed losses to "failing to stop losses timely after being trapped." This is one of the common ailments of cryptocurrency investors, including myself—not realizing that 90% or even 99% of altcoins in the crypto market are destined to go to zero, with only a very few tokens able to rise again after lows. Even then, it's mostly pump-and-dump schemes by wildcat market makers to better harvest the market. This story tells us that timely stop-loss and stopping fantasies are necessary.
On the operational level, being slow to react, conservative operations, or blindly believing news, chasing pumps and selling dips became another main cause of losses. Over 45% of investors made mistakes in these aspects leading to investment losses. Based on my personal observation, "becoming early believers of capital," waiting for others to take over, might be an important method to remain undefeated in the market. This, however, is often closely related to information sensitivity, source channels, personal risk preference, capital and equipment preparation, etc., and is difficult to achieve overnight.
Finally, about 12% attributed losses to operational errors, misjudgments, or industry black swans. In such a volatile "monkey market,"很多时候确实也是“非战之罪” (often it's really not the fault of the battle), investors can only silently accept their losses, adjust their state, and fight again next year.
What surprised me the most was that the percentage of people who lost due to high-frequency trading was far lower than my personal expectation, only 8.6%. On one hand, most people might indeed engage in less high-frequency trading; on the other hand, everyone might have different standards for what constitutes high-frequency trading. Some might buy and sell dozens of times within an hour but then wait and see for the next week; others might operate 3-5 trades daily, trading for more than twenty days a month. Many might not consider the latter as high-frequency trading, but compared to most people, they are already "high-frequency players."
Commonly Used Products: Perp DEX VS Prediction Markets? Still Over 40% Haven't Used Prediction Markets
The data regarding commonly used popular products is quite intriguing.
The percentage of people who have used Perp DEX is about 40%, among which about 40% are Hyperliquid users; about 22% have used Lighter; about 12% have used Aster; users of other platforms account for about 15%, including old platforms like DYDX and GMX. It must be said that the lasting charm of DeFi might be verified once again here.
As for prediction markets, nearly 60% of investors have participated; over 40% of investors have heard of but not participated in prediction market betting. From this small sample data, prediction markets still have significant room for growth. In 2026, prediction market platforms like Polymarket, Kalshi, The Clearing Company, and those on the BSC ecosystem and Base ecosystem may continue to experience user growth explosions.
Future Outlook: Bullish Sectors VS Investment Advice? RWA, AI, Meme Top Three, DCA is King
At the end of the questionnaire, we also set up 2 "open-ended questions": one is "Sectors看好 (bullish on) for 2026"; the other is "Investment insights/advice you can share."
Regarding bullish sectors, RWA, AI, and Meme coins ranked top three—
Mentions of RWA accounted for a high 31%. It's worth mentioning that RWA here combines tokenized stocks, stablecoins, and PayFi elements;
Mentions of AI accounted for about 25%. With the increasing penetration of AI models and applications and the rapid development of AI-related tech companies, the combination of AI and cryptocurrency remains one of the highly anticipated directions for the mainstream market;
The reason Meme coins are still favored by many might lie in their low entry barrier and high risk/high return compared to mainstream coins. However, I personally hold a pessimistic view on this. After all, altcoins being drained of liquidity is inevitable, and the Meme coin sector, which heavily relies on on-market liquidity, currently seems unlikely to return to its previous "blooming flowers" stage.
Prediction markets are the "consensus" for many. The two oligarchs Polymarket and Kalshi with valuations exceeding ten billion dollars and the rapidly growing industry volume allow more people to see the development potential of prediction markets. The functional setup of "everything can be predicted"叠加 (coupled with) hotspot events like various popular sports events and political elections in 2026 may add more fuel to the prediction market fervor.
Regarding specific investment advice, most people recognize the principle that "Dollar-Cost Averaging (DCA) is king" and advise to "only buy BTC," but how many can actually do it, only they themselves know.
Additionally, an interesting point is that crypto KOL @_FORAB shared advice to DCA into mainstream coins every Friday afternoon, which is quite clever in terms of timing; another "certain group friend" who did not want to be named publicly suggested trading after 4 PM because "that's when foreigners wake up,"俨然 viewing "foreigners" as "exit liquidity."
Humorously, 6 questionnaire participants gave their "investment advice"—"Buy high, sell low,"堪称 (can be called) the "Guide to Achieving韭菜 (being a noob)"; others offered their judgment—"L1, L2 are dead, stay away from futures or set stop-losses, look for low-market-cap RWA sector tokens"; still others bluntly reminded: "Take profits timely when you make money; don't get carried away; be brave to act during extreme emotions."
Here, we thank all investors who participated in this questionnaire; at the same time, we thank the following questionnaire users who left their IDs for sharing their annual investment memories with Odaily Planet Daily readers: @wanzwa6、@_FORAB、@airn_619、@muzz201o、@0xJerrrry、@bcxiongdi、@GaoNew3、@anchor9960、@cryptoshouyi、@Meiko5200、@a6825272、@qinxiaofeng888、@Asher_0210、@azuma_eth、@ethanzhang_web3、@0xmz2987、@gold7108.
Regardless, everyone still active in the crypto market today is essentially each other's "comrades in the trenches."
Those "Big Opportunities" We Missed in 2024: An Annual Review of the Most Heartbreaking Projects
At the end of the article, I want to use a brief space to briefly review the "annual wealth explosion opportunities" that countless people missed this year. After a year has passed, countless opportunities for immense wealth were once placed before us, but due to various conditions such as limited principal, slow hands, cognition, or unexpected situations, we still brushed shoulders with these opportunities time and again.
At the end of 2024, looking back, perhaps we can see more clearly whether it was "impossible to make money beyond one's cognition" or "just one move short by chance." Whether it's a bit of regret or more anticipation, the new year is coming, and there will always be new opportunities and challenges waiting for us to conquer, explore, succeed, or fail.
Q1 Missed Big Opportunities: TRUMP, MELANIA, Swarms, PIPPIN, TST, MUBARAK, HYPE, VIRTUAL, IP, KAITO
In the first quarter, the official legitimate Meme coin TRUMP before Trump took office can be considered an "epic annual wealth creation opportunity." Many Chinese-speaking traders used this to achieve single-coin profits of $1 million or even over $10 million,堪称 (can be called) the model of "reaching A8 (wealth level) in one step"; subsequently, after a brief aftermath of the AI Agent concept coin热潮 (wave), the "Binance系 (ecosystem) Meme coin热潮" led by CZ began to emerge, with testnet coin concepts and celebrity Memes once again becoming market焦点 (foci); the surge of HYPE, the IP airdrop and its 10x increase afterwards, and the "嘴撸赛道概念币" (talk-to-earn sector concept coin) pioneered by KAITO were also good wealth creation opportunities.
Q2 Missed Big Opportunities: Circle(CRCL) Listing, PUMP, LAUNCHCOIN, USELESS, MYX, HUMA, SAHARA
In the second quarter, DAT gradually joined the crypto battle. Circle's "10x miracle" debuted on the US stock market, completely breaking the skepticism and bearish views the crypto-native crowd had towards this compliant stablecoin before. Although it later succumbed to market influences and showed weakness, the "crypto IPO热潮" it initiated laid the foundation for the subsequent expansion of the DAT treasury company camp and stock tokenization platforms to some extent; additionally, the乱战 (chaotic battle) of Launchpad platforms, the development of the AI field, and the frequent appearance of god-like盘 (schemes) on Binance Alpha also injected new vitality into market liquidity. Many projects completed their TGE during this time, seizing the rare "market best token issuance time vacuum period."
Q3 Missed Big Opportunities:: WLFI, Plasma(XPL), ASTER, AVANT(Avantis)
In the third quarter, the most regrettable were undoubtedly 2 major projects: one is Plasma(XPL), where depositing 1 U could领取 (claim) tokens worth nearly 10,000 U; the other is ASTER, where trading tens of thousands U volume could claim considerable tokens. Although the former's financial activity required conditions like speed or KYC, the highly rewarding outcome still made many people slam their thighs in regret; for the latter, the reason many sighed in pain was "falling倒在了黎明前一夜" (falling just before dawn) by selling too early, with不乏 (no lack of) people selling off ASTER tokens worth millions. In the end, one can only sigh, it's fate.
Q4 Missed Big Opportunities: Binance Life, 4, Giggle, ZEC
The fourth quarter was more like a flash in the pan "artificial bull market." Whether it was the BSC ecosystem Meme coins like Binance Life heavily promoted by Binance figures like CZ and He Yi, or the privacy coin sector representative ZEC, which gained new life after the "October 11th crash," were all "artificial products" following the market's new highs. Therefore, it's difficult to simply judge them as "big opportunities." But无论如何 (regardless), for the market at that time, it was undoubtedly "the final造富余晖" (wealth-creating afterglow) of the crypto market this year.
Finally,最后,借用群友的一句话来说 (borrowing a group friend's words), "You always think opportunities are infinite, and indeed opportunities are infinite." From a rearview mirror perspective, perhaps many wouldn't have imagined that 2024 had so many wealth creation opportunities. And being able to抓住 (catch) one might be enough to change one's life.
2024, the year of crypto mainstreaming, is coming to an end; what magnificent waves await us in the crypto market in 2025?
See you next year.
