The market is oscillating back and forth in a narrow range, unable to go up or down. The intraday chart resembles a drowsy worm, crawling along, occasionally twitching. The trading volume is gradually thinning, like faint water stains on the mudflats after the tide has receded. Positive news hits the market like a small stone sinking into a quagmire, with a thud, not even a ripple to be seen; negative news arrives, and the market merely droops its eyelids, lacking even the strength to panic.

This is the 'garbage time' of oscillation. Both bulls and bears are silently exerting their strength in a corner without applause, neither willing to reveal their cards, nor possessing the power to deliver a decisive blow. Time seems to stretch and stick, leaving only a few dull, repeatedly entangled moving averages on the K-line.

This is not the end, but the beginning of a long wait. Before finding your own direction, there is no other way but to endure this exhausting rhythm. Beneath the frozen surface of the lake, dark currents are quietly gathering, but no one knows when the moment of breaking the ice will come.