Retail investors make small profits from price increases (the spread); altcoins use stories to swindle big money (principal)
Structural differences between stocks and crypto
In the stock market, retail investors do mostly make a little money from “price increases”—the small price difference—but at least there’s real support behind them: corporate revenue, earnings, dividends, and buybacks. Over the long term, when you buy an index (such as the S&P 500), most companies are still creating value rather than simply telling stories.
Crypto is completely different:
BTC is the only asset the market genuinely treats as “digital gold” or a “store of value.” The vast majority of other altcoins are essentially “narrative + liquidity games.”
Current data also supports the idea that “BTC is performing solo”: