Recently, the global cryptocurrency market has made some moves—its market capitalization has stubbornly hit the key point of $3 trillion. Even more astonishing, the 24-hour trading volume yesterday soared to $123.7 billion, a direct jump of 33% compared to the previous day. If you say there’s no story behind this rally, nobody would believe it.

Breaking it down, such a sharp increase in trading volume usually doesn’t happen out of nowhere. The most common reasons are a few: first, large institutions are quietly accumulating; second, a certain blockchain or new project suddenly makes a big move; third, there’s been some change in regulatory stance. Specifically, Bitcoin and Ethereum, the two big brothers, are likely leading the charge, given their size. Meanwhile, performance chains like Solana and Avalanche have also been active recently, possibly driving the overall sentiment.

This phenomenon is somewhat like a hot retail product suddenly becoming popular—on the surface, it’s due to good product quality, but in reality, it could be marketing hype, scarcity marketing, or cyclical demand surges. The surge in trading volume in the crypto market is similar: even if the daily data looks exaggerated, it’s hard to tell whether it reflects genuine buying and selling demand or short-term capital speculation.

But here’s a warning. First, the volume data itself might be inflated—counterparty trades, cross-exchange arbitrage, and other factors can artificially boost nominal volume, which doesn’t necessarily indicate real market enthusiasm. Second, once regulatory actions come into play, the market can reverse instantly. History is full of such cases—when a country suddenly enforces stricter exchange regulations, the market immediately turns around. Additionally, ask yourself: how many projects’ fundamentals are being masked by this rapid surge? Some altcoins are just riding the hype to pump their prices, with no real backing.

So the conclusion is simple: you can follow market hotspots, but never go all-in. Beautiful data doesn’t mean the opportunity has arrived; staying vigilant is the key to long-term survival.