Why isn’t there an altcoin season? Because our altcoin season got dumped early by hedge funds in the futures market. Take SOL as an example: When FTX went bankrupt and liquidated, a large amount of locked SOL was sold to hedge funds at a 60%+ discount. The funds then hedged by shorting in the futures market, effortlessly earning 70-80% risk-free returns. After tasting success, these funds quickly replicated this strategy across the entire industry. Almost all projects’ locked tokens were bought out by funds at very low discounts, then dumped onto you via futures. You think you’re waiting for unlock-related sell pressure, but in reality, that sell pressure has already been released through futures. You think you’re buying undervalued altcoins, but in reality, you’re just taking over the funds’ risk-free arbitrage. This is the truth behind why altcoins have been consistently dumping from 2023 to 2025: retail investors’ alpha has all turned into institutions’ risk-free yield. The only good news is that, since locked tokens have already been digested early, the actual sell pressure from these projects in the next cycle might be smaller than you expect.