Recently, I looked at the backend comments, and it's full of voices criticizing institutions for "manipulation by black hands." Actually, the matter is quite simple—ADA's 346x long position exploded, leaving many retail investors completely wiped out and furious.

But I have to tell you something that might be hard to hear: institutions are not malicious; they are actually following the most primitive game rules of the crypto market. The real reason retail investors get hurt? They simply don't understand these rules at all, and instead, they blindly walk into the institutions' firing range.

Today, let's break down this issue thoroughly, see how institutions make money, and understand how retail investors should align their thinking, rather than stubbornly oppose the market.

**Why now, specifically, do institutions choose ADA?**

Cost performance. It's that simple. First, ADA has indeed risen before, accumulating a lot of profit-taking orders. Once these chips are moved, it's like knocking over the first domino—everything else falls. Second, the entire crypto market has been adjusting recently, with fragile popularity and lower psychological defenses among retail investors. At this moment, aggressively pushing a short position can easily trigger a chain of liquidations.

What do the data say? On Kraken, the short positions have reached 70.7%, and these positions were built step by step when the market was at its weakest. In contrast, on HTX, 69% of retail investors are long. Comparing both sides, they are like arrows shot out, and we are like the target.

**What is the core logic?**

The long and short game in the crypto market is essentially a contest of "information + capital." Institutions win not because they have more malicious tactics, but because they possess more complete information and more bullets. The same logic applies to the ADA incident.