Crypto doesnāt move randomly ā it hunts liquidity. Thatās the part most traders miss.
Market structure in crypto often looks clean: higher highs, higher lows, breakouts everywhere. But because liquidity is thin and fragmented across exchanges, price is constantly engineered to run stops before making the real move. What looks like a breakout is often just a liquidity grab. What looks like a breakdown is bait.
The trap works like this:
Retail traders are taught to buy breakouts and sell breakdowns. Market makers know exactly where those orders sit. Price pushes just far enough to trigger themā¦ then snaps back hard. The result? Late entries, tight stops, emotional exits.
Another issue: crypto trades 24/7. No open, no close, no reset. That means structure breaks donāt always mean trend shifts ā often theyāre just temporary dislocations caused by leverage getting flushed.
The traders who survive stop chasing āconfirmation.ā They wait for reaction: how price behaves after liquidity is taken. Structure doesnāt break when a line is crossed ā it breaks when participants are forced out.
Thatās the game. Most never realize theyāre the fuel.