In the past week, the entire crypto world held its breath, watching the 'death' of an address on a chain.
Like witnessing a stranded giant whale, the entire internet witnessed how Trend Research founder Yi Lihua was forced to cut positions of over 600,000 Er Ge within a week, resulting in a cumulative loss of 779 million dollars.
When so many chips are thrown into the market, it is not a trade; it is a silent sacrifice.
This live-streamed defeat coldly dissected the complete cycle of an OG: from an obscure minting, to a brilliant unveiling, and finally to a broken sword caused by excessive confidence.
Yilihua's story has long transcended personal gains and losses, becoming an excellent slice for examining the paradigm of cryptocurrency investment in this era - it involves faith, leverage, cycles, and the courage and cost of 'clear signals'.
Forging swords - creating 'bull' faith from the ruins.
The starting point for Yilihua, like most legends in this circle, began with scarcity and resentment.
Coming from a rural village in Hunan, he once spent 9 months in Shanghai with 1800 yuan.
This extreme desire for a 'fair playing field' led him to dive headfirst into Bitcoin after encountering it in 2015, investing one-third of his fortune into mining.
His early investments in projects like Yuzu and Quantum Chain brought him a hundredfold return, quickly completing his class leap.
This experience forged his core investment philosophy: in the face of disruptive new things, action is nobler than observation; over the long river of cycles, going long is more correct than going short.
He once missed the great bull market after '312' because he cleared his position in the bear market, which became a deep scar in his heart and solidified his mental imprint of 'never easily going short'.
His sword, forged from early dividends, is engraved with inscriptions of 'trends' and 'going long'.
Drawing the sword - precise top escaping and the 'naming battle'.
What truly set Yilihua apart from many investors, establishing his reputation as the 'King of Trends', was his textbook operation in 2025.
At the beginning of the year, when the second guy's price fell to around 1800 dollars, the Trend Research he managed began to openly go bullish and build positions.
He not only used cash but also leveraged loans multiple times, showing a position as high as 133,000 coins on-chain.
His logic is clear and grand: the government will promote stablecoin regulation, and the second guy, as a core facility, will capture immense value, looking long-term to 5000 or even 10,000.
The market validated his judgment.
The second guy soared all the way, and he sold most of his positions near 4700 in early October, accurately avoiding the subsequent '1011' that led to a single-day crash in prices.
This perfect cycle operation of 'bottom fishing - top escaping' brought him nine-digit profits and immense industry prestige.
His 'drawing the sword' not only symbolizes the victory of wealth but also a 'naming battle' he actively initiated - he attempted to prove that value investing based on in-depth research can defeat the anonymity and manipulation of this market.
Broken sword - the backlash of overconfidence and leverage.
The toxicity of success lies in the misconception that success stems from some eternal quality within oneself.
With the brilliant performance of 2025, Yilihua's confidence reached its peak.
In January 2026, he was still shouting, 'Before the great bull market of 26 years, the shorts who closed early will suffer small losses, while those who close late will suffer greatly.'
Based on 'undervalued' judgments, he announced 'full position' around 2700 last November and continued to adopt and even increase leverage strategies, constantly buying on dips.
By January of this year, his holdings peaked at 651,000 coins, making him one of the largest clear signal bulls on-chain, with an average cost of about 3180 dollars.
He firmly believes he sees the 'intent of the main force to cleanse the OG bulls', but did not anticipate that this cleansing scythe would come from a macro level.
At the end of January, the nomination of a hawkish figure for the Federal Reserve Chair triggered a flash crash in precious metals, and risk assets fell in succession.
Prices continuously broke through key support levels. Leverage became a noose.
To avoid liquidation, his team was forced to start a 'death spiral' style of selling from February 1: selling the second guy to repay loans, causing selling pressure that led to further price declines, threatening even lower liquidation prices.
From the initial liquidation price of over 2000, it was cut down to 1500.
On the 4th of this month, he was still encouraging everyone on social media that 'now is the best time to buy spot', but on-chain addresses honestly displayed desperate selling.
Ultimately, by February 7, 650,000 coins in the large position were almost cleared out, leaving only 20,000 coins.
The sword is broken.
He got stuck in a vision blinded by his glorious past, trapped in an overconfidence that his judgment could transcend the cyclical forces, and ultimately caught on the fragile sword handle named 'leverage'.
After the sword broke - a funeral for 'clear signals' and three insights.
Yilihua's liquidation is not just a Waterloo for a top player.
This is a public funeral held for 'old-style clear signal bulls'.
It tore apart the fragile nature of this bullish market, lacking substantial innovation and relying on macro narratives.
When traditional funds withdrew from ETFs due to volatility, high-leverage positions that relied on 'narratives' and 'faith' became the first to be sacrificed.
His story leaves us with three cold insights:
The paradox of faith and leverage: the deepest faith should be able to traverse the darkest valleys. But leverage imposes a forced countdown on your faith. When market liquidity tightens, faith becomes worthless in front of liquidation robots. You can be bullish for ten thousand years, but your margin can only support three days.
The curse of experience: having successfully escaped a top once, one becomes confident in being able to discern all tops and bottoms; this is the fatal mistake most cyclical veterans easily make. As the founder of Three Arrows Capital remarked: the excitement of selling at a high can lead to premature buying and overconfidence. Every cycle is new; what made you win last time may bury you this time.
The double-edged sword of 'clear signals': in a market characterized by anonymity and manipulation, Yilihua's clear signal operations deserve great respect. They provide valuable transparency and thinking trajectories. However, 'clear signals' also expose themselves completely to the firepower of the entire market, becoming live targets for all shorts and hedge funds, losing any room for maneuver and concealment.
At the last moment, Yilihua admitted: being in the industry, it's hard not to be bullish.
This sentence expresses the helplessness and fate of many believers immersed in this industry.
We gain everything from being bullish, but we may also lose everything for the same reason.
His sword broke, but the game is not over.
He said he is still at the table, waiting for the next opportunity to turn things around.
The market will remember this lesson: true investment is not about forging an indestructible sword but learning how to never place your own neck in the path of the sword's swing while wielding it.
Respecting the market is not an empty phrase.
It is always about leaving enough chips to survive for the side of 'you might be wrong' when placing bets.
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