Dear crypto friends, recently I saw the incident where Guotou Silver LOF was hit with a 1 billion order block and hit the limit down. I thought to myself, this kind of scheme has already been played out in the crypto market. With a premium rate of up to 45%, it forcibly traps a bunch of retail investors at the top. This textbook-style harvesting method needs to be thoroughly dissected; otherwise, you really won’t last more than a few months in the crypto circle.

First, let’s talk about what happened with the Silver LOF case. This fund essentially tracks silver prices; theoretically, the trading price and net value should be close. But recently, market expectations of silver price increases, coupled with the manipulator’s capital pushing the price upward, caused the premium rate to soar to 45%. Funds that had been secretly positioned long ago began to quietly withdraw. When retail investors were lured in by the "get rich quick" dream, a sudden sell-off caused the price to hit the limit down, directly blocking the exit channel. Retail investors couldn’t escape, watching their accounts turn red with losses.

Does this scheme sound familiar? Actually, it’s been a daily operation in the crypto market for a long time.

For example, those so-called "dog coins" that are hyped to the sky. The project team first uses their own money to pump up the coin price, creating an illusion of "prosperity." Then they flood Telegram groups and social communities with propaganda, emphasizing the urgency of "miss this chance and you’ll never get rich," making retail investors afraid of missing out and rushing to buy the dip. Once everyone is on board, the project team quickly dumps their holdings, then leaves casually. What’s left? A bunch of retail investors holding high positions, their accounts significantly shrunk, full of regret.

And then there are leveraged futures trading. Some exchanges actually play very dirty behind the scenes. They actively induce retail investors to leverage up, manipulating prices to trigger liquidations at critical points, earning liquidation fees and the funds from forced closures. This full chain of "pump-up—creating hype—inducing leverage—dump and harvest" has formed a systematic harvesting mechanism.

So, whether in traditional finance or the crypto market, the core scheme is the same: create scarcity, amplify greed, and precisely harvest. As long as you don’t see through these tricks, you will always be the one getting taken.