Alts market is in a slump, how should investors cope?

Since the beginning of 2025, the cryptocurrency market has experienced a significant downward trend. This decline is reflected not only in various tokens on trading platforms but also in on-chain assets that performed well in the fourth quarter of 2024, which have not been spared and are facing serious losses.

AI-related coins have suffered heavy losses in less than three months:

• Virtual down 79.2%
• Ai16z dropped by 85.5%
• AIXBT decreased by 68%
• Griffain shrank by 80.3%
• Buzz dropped by 72.4%
• Fartcoin decreased by 67.5%
• ARC down 62%
• Swarms dropped 45%

Although it cannot be definitively concluded that the AI track has completely failed, it is an indisputable fact that the market's attention to it has significantly decreased, and it is difficult to regain investors' favor in the short term.

On the other hand, the celebrity coin craze led by Trump has also shown a similar decline. The drop in major celebrity coins since their peak is as follows:

• Trump: -77.1%
• Melania: -91%
• Vine: -92.7%
• jailstool: -93.5%
• Jellyjelly: -98%
• CAR: -98.5%
• Libra: -94.3%

The cryptocurrency market is often said to "favor new over old," meaning that funds tend to chase the latest investment concepts. However, compared to AI tokens, celebrity coins seem to have encountered a more severe sell-off. In the current market environment, which lacks new concepts, what issues do these two once-popular tracks face? Do investors still have the opportunity to find a breakthrough?

Current market predicament: rampant speculation on concepts, lack of substantial applications.

Most AI-related projects are still in the conceptual demonstration and future planning stages, lacking practical and widely promotable products. Even though some operational services have appeared on the market, they often suffer from complex interfaces and poor user experiences, making it difficult to attract ordinary investors for long-term participation. Worse still, some project teams, in order to cater to the market's expectations for "AI + blockchain," often inflate prices with exaggerated promotions, while the actual implementation of applications keeps being delayed. In this situation, investors' patience gradually wears thin, attention shifts, leading to a significant decline in the prices of related tokens.

In the realm of celebrity coins, although Trump brought enormous initial hype, the subsequent "celebrity effect" has proven difficult to sustain. Following this, various political figures, internet celebrities, and stars have jumped on the bandwagon, but they have been unable to replicate the initial enthusiasm and market sentiment. As market fervor declines, the celebrity coin sector exhibits a fleeting nature, investor confidence rapidly dissipates, and prices subsequently plummet.

The fundamental reason for the dramatic fluctuations in these tracks is that most projects only remain at the level of conceptual hype, lacking real and sustainable profit models. Whether it's AI-related projects or celebrity coins, their core appeal relies on the rapid influx of short-term capital and popularity, while lacking the motivation to keep users engaged in the long term. Once the hype fades, it becomes difficult to maintain the price, and even harder to attract new capital.

Looking for projects with substantial value

In the current market narrative fatigue, the key to standing out lies in discovering projects that have "real returns" and are "willing to share with users." The so-called "real returns" are not just based on short-term gains when listed on exchanges, but rather on the ability to continuously generate returns through actual business models and trading activities, and to return these profits to token holders or ecosystem participants.

Some decentralized trading platforms have adopted a similar model, with their revenue primarily coming from contract trading fees. These platforms use all the fees for repurchasing platform tokens, closely linking the value of the tokens with the platform's actual trading volume.

Data shows that certain decentralized perpetual contract trading platforms have maintained considerable trading volume during the current market downturn, capturing a significant market share. These platforms generate substantial daily revenue, and even in the overall market decline, the prices of their tokens still perform strongly.

No matter how popular a concept may be, it will eventually fade away. Projects that can exist in the cryptocurrency market for the long term must have a good fit between product and market, possess high user stickiness, and be able to continuously generate substantial profits. When selecting investment targets, these factors should become the key considerations for investors.