TSMC's strong earnings report boosted tech stocks and clearly improved market sentiment. However, behind this rally, what truly determines the direction of your account is not these obvious candlestick data, but the real intentions recently revealed by top Wall Street institutions.

Why is it that while the market is rising, many people's portfolios are shrinking? The problem lies right here.

Last year, everyone was chasing bank stocks and tech giants, and their performance has been good. Yet, institutions like BlackRock and Goldman Sachs are actually reducing their holdings. They have already sensed the next opportunity and are quietly positioning themselves. This is a typical case of good news being fully priced in—ordinary investors are still chasing the rally, while smart money has already switched tracks.

ETFs are one of the key focus areas. This product format, born less than 35 years ago, has completely overtaken traditional mutual funds, with assets now reaching around 13.5 trillion USD. High efficiency, tax advantages, flexible operations—these seem like great features. But here’s the problem—why do some ETFs cause their holders to suffer the biggest losses?

Many seemingly attractive ETFs are actually designed specifically to harvest retail investors:

Leverage traps are the first pitfall. Products like 3x short ETFs sound exciting, but in reality, their loss rates are terrifyingly high. There was a reverse ETF that lost 99.99% over 15 years, barely surviving through continuous share buybacks.

Dividend scams are the easiest to deceive people. Some Tesla covered-call ETFs tout a 46% dividend yield, making it look like explosive returns, but the total gains are actually less than half of holding the underlying stock directly. It’s like digging into your flesh to make soup.

Hot sector chasing is also an old trick. When concepts like quantum computing and brain-machine interfaces appear as ETFs, it usually signals that the hype is about to fade, and institutions are waiting for retail investors to take the bait.

BlackRock’s latest earnings report further illustrates the point—assets just broke through 14 trillion USD. While management is slimming down and reducing costs in mature markets, they are aggressively expanding their private equity and alternative investments. This reflects a harsh reality: top-tier players are no longer playing with ordinary investors in traditional public markets. They are engaging in deeper, less transparent games, sometimes even without real-time quotes.

By 2026, if you want to bottom fish in digital assets or the US stock market, simply clicking news and waking up early to watch the market won’t be enough. The real difference lies in whether you can see your position within the market ecosystem—are you the hunter or the prey.