Please be kind to Jack Yi

Author: Gu Yu, ChainCatcher

With the sharp decline in BTC and ETH prices over the past few days, the positions of Jack Yi, founder of Trend Research and Liquid Capital (formerly LD Capital), have drawn significant attention from many investors in the crypto space. His leveraged position of 650,000 ETH is now precariously close to liquidation.

For this staunch ETH bull, a rare on-chain trader, and a representative of the Asian crypto institutional sector, the current situation is indeed somewhat cruel and lamentable. After all, concepts like "transparency," "bullish sentiment," and "research-driven" align with the mainstream values of crypto, and Jack Yi's current "battle" is, to some extent, a "battle for the legitimacy" of the crypto industry.

So, how did all this happen? Why did Jack Yi go from successfully selling at the top to buying at the bottom and getting trapped? What insights and lessons can this leave us with?

From Bottom Fishing to Selling at the Top

Jack Yi is an early OG in the Chinese crypto community, having invested in hundreds of blockchain projects since 2015. Early investment cases include EOS, Qtum, VeChain, and in 2017, he invested in well-known projects like Near, CertiK, and MEXC through LD Capital.

Some investment cases of LD Capital Source: RootData

Since early 2025, Jack Yi's focus has shifted from the primary crypto market to the secondary market. In April 2025, the price of ETH fell to a new low since 2022, dropping to as low as $1,385. Jack Yi's bottom fishing quietly began at this time.

At the end of April, Trend Research publicly released a report bullish on ETH when the price rose to $1,800, stating, "Under the trend, more upward movement in the crypto market is imminent."

By the end of May 2025, Trend Research's frequent large-scale on-chain purchases were discovered and disclosed by on-chain analyst Yu Jin, and Jack Yi subsequently claimed this batch of addresses on X. At this point, ETH had risen to $2,600, and Trend Research's on-chain addresses cumulatively held 133,000 ETH, with a total value of $360 million.

However, it should be noted that Trend Research's operations were not entirely cash-based; a significant portion of the funds used to purchase ETH was borrowed against the ETH purchased earlier through Aave, effectively adding several times of leverage.

In June 2025, Trend Research published another article titled "Why We Are Bullish on ETH on the Eve of a Surge," which mentioned that the underlying logic for the institution's continued optimism about ETH was: the Trump administration's commitment to establishing a stablecoin system… and the most important infrastructure for stablecoins and on-chain finance is Ethereum. The influx of stablecoins and the ongoing development of RWA will lead to further prosperity in DeFi, increasing Ethereum's consumption and GAS revenue, thereby boosting its market value.

At this time, the price of ETH was around $2,800. Jack Yi publicly stated that he believed the long-term price of ETH could exceed $5,000, and in an optimistic scenario, BTC could rise above $300,000, while ETH could reach $10,000. Meanwhile, Jack Yi stated that he had purchased 100,000 ETH options.

In July 2025, Jack Yi tweeted that the market had completely entered a long bull market, and there might no longer be the traditional four-year cycle. Stablecoins and blockchain represent the best opportunity for the globalization of the dollar for the beautiful country, investing in cryptocurrencies with one hand and earning interest on stablecoins with the other, the market would continuously attract new users and funds.

After that, Jack Yi almost increased his positions every month until early October when he began to warn about market risks and quickly transferred most of his ETH holdings to Binance for sale, at that time the price was around $4,700, just escaping the 1011 incident.

Through this precise bottom fishing (starting to build positions around $1,800 in the first half of the year) and profiting at the peak, Jack Yi achieved significant doubled profits and solidified his influence as a top trend investor in the Chinese-speaking community.

Rebuilding Positions and Getting Trapped

In the reshuffled market after the 1011 incident, Jack Yi saw another opportunity to build positions. At the beginning of November, he tweeted again that ETH was starting to rebound and continued to be optimistic about the subsequent market and the strategy of buying on dips. He later stated that the $3,000-$3,300 range was the spot buying zone for ETH. As ETH continued to pull back, Jack Yi indicated that he had fully invested in ETH at a price of $2,700, and subsequently continued to increase his positions through leveraged borrowing during the downturn, holding over 650,000 ETH by January this year, with an average cost reportedly at $3,180.

"When ETH dropped to over $1,000, we saw through the main force's intention to clean out the ETH OG bulls and successfully bottomed out. When ETH rose to over $4,500, we saw through the market's rise to the peak of the oscillation and successfully liquidated. Trend Research has proven successful bottom fishing and selling at the top in 2025; we will not change our investment strategy due to emotions," Jack Yi was still encouraging the market in January.

But no one could have predicted that the market would deal a heavy blow to this seasoned investor at this time, as the price of ETH continuously broke through key levels of $2,200, $2,000, and $1,800 in early February, coming dangerously close to his liquidation price.

In just a few days, Jack Yi continuously sold about 200,000 ETH to stop losses, lowering his liquidation price to around $1,600, narrowly escaping a disaster during the sharp drop early this morning. According to on-chain analyst Yu Jin's analysis today, Trend Research has already lost $763 million on this long position, not only giving back all the previous profits but also losing $448 million in principal.

In recent days, Jack Yi has tweeted to admit his mistakes, "Since clearing at the top, it was indeed a mistake to be overly bullish on ETH too early, because BTC was around $100,000 while ETH was still at $3,000, we believed it was undervalued. Currently, the previous round of profits has been given back, and position size determines thinking. While controlling risks, we will continue to wait for the market to move upward. Thank you all for your concern; investing and trading are the most difficult. Being in the industry, one always can't help but be bullish."

"Why can't I help but be bullish? It relates to my past entrepreneurial experience. Back then, I couldn't find a job and started my own business. After earning my first pot of gold, I didn't dare to spend lavishly but invested in tech projects. Entering the crypto space in 2015 coincided with that golden era, which was a continuous journey of bullish gains. However, the subsequent bear market led to significant losses in investments, and I couldn't withstand the bear market, liquidating BTC early and ultimately missing out on the big bull market after 312. We have experienced two rounds of bear markets before the bull market, so this time after selling at the top, I was relatively confident in bottom fishing too early, continuing to wait while controlling risks."

Zhu Su, founder of Three Arrows Capital, posted on X discussing this matter, "In my experience, selling at a high is often more dangerous than selling during a downturn. This is because the excitement from selling at a high can lead to premature additional buying and overconfidence. I suspect Jack Yi made a similar arrogant mistake after earning nine figures in profit on October 10."

However, after experiencing this setback, Jack Yi still expressed his firm view on the future market, "As bulls in this round, we remain optimistic about the performance of the new bull market: ETH reaching above $10,000, BTC exceeding $200,000. We only made some adjustments to control risks. I know everyone is disappointed with the industry and the leaders, especially with the liquidity shortage and manipulation caused by the 1011 incident, but I believe the long-term trend in the crypto space remains unchanged. It is now the best time to buy spot. Volatility is the biggest characteristic of the crypto space; countless bulls have been thrown off by this volatility, but often the subsequent rebounds are doubled."

Currently, the price of ETH has rebounded to around $1,900, and the risk of Trend Research's positions has significantly decreased, but the impact and lessons from this event will continue to resonate.

The Market Needs More Bullish Sentiment and Transparency

As one of the few representatives who choose "on-chain transparency" and openly share all thoughts and position dynamics, every statement and action from Jack Yi has become an invisible mirror for the industry: it reflects the belief in trend investing while amplifying the non-linear risks of leverage; it showcases the power of logic being realized in a bull market while exposing the fragile balance between emotions and positions during a pullback phase.

However, in a market still dominated by anonymous manipulators, platform manipulation, and information asymmetry, Jack Yi's public choice itself is a rare courage—he uses real on-chain operations rather than mere rhetoric to validate his judgments. This approach undoubtedly brings immense personal pressure and temporary floating losses, but it also provides countless retail investors and small to medium institutions with the most intuitive textbook: how to sell at the top in a bull market, how to bottom fish in a bear market, how to manage leverage, and how to restrain emotions.

In the highly volatile and uncertain arena of the crypto market, no matter how brilliant past successes or profound cyclical insights are, they cannot completely exempt participants from the harsh lessons of the market—because every cycle will test participants anew with different forms, intensities, and variables. In this cycle, the crypto market has become closely intertwined with the macroeconomic environment (CPI, U.S. stocks, gold, etc.) and geopolitical events, and any significant changes outside the industry could reverse the cyclical trends within the industry.

This experience once again proves that what truly determines whether investors can navigate through cycles is not the correctness of a single directional choice, but whether they leave enough room for survival for each judgment amid ongoing uncertainty, and their ability to stop losses and restart promptly when mistakes occur. Respecting the market is a principle that every investor must always adhere to.

Additionally, it is worth noting that Trend Research, as one of the top three ETH holding entities in the market, has become a barometer for institutional crypto investors in the Asia-Pacific region. Its successes and failures also relate to the voice and status of the Asian market in the crypto industry. There are also views in the market that the Asian market, as a significant liquidity support for the current crypto market, has a higher proportion of retail investors and more intense emotional transmission. Once the bullish sentiment is broken, the Asian market may very well become a passive receiver of North American narratives and liquidity.

Fortunately, Jack Yi and his Trend Research are still at the table. The crypto industry needs more steadfast "bulls," more "transparency," and more "Jack Yis."

It is essential to know that the story of Trend Research will be seen by more mainstream institutions and deep-pocketed entities. The crypto industry needs more stories that emphasize research, adhere to investment discipline, and control risks to achieve returns, rather than more MEME-style wealth transfers. The former can bring in incremental investors, while the latter can only exacerbate the casino-like nature of the crypto industry.