Bitcoin (BTC) reached a new all-time high above $126,000 in October, yet at the time of writing, it was trading near $88,000.This significant retreat highlights a deeper truth: headline highs have masked a deeply fractured market where most cryptocurrencies have been left in a prolonged chill.A Stark Divergence in PerformanceAnalytics platform SoSoValue’s recent review of the 2024-2025 period quantified this split with a clear experiment. What would happen to $10 invested across major crypto sectors at the cycle’s start in early 2024?The results are sobering. As SoSoValue stated,“Two years later, the answer is stark: That same $10 starting point turned into $28 in some pockets, while in others, only $1.20 remains.”The firm defined the period as a “belated, cruel coming-of-age ceremony” for crypto, where selective capital, not broad optimism, drove outcomes.According to the study, the key catalyst was the January 2024 approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs. While hailed as a landmark, it created a “compliance loop” that isolated institutional money.“ETFs broke this chain,” SoSoValue explained. Capital now flows into regulated products and stays there, rarely trickling down to the wider ecosystem.This erected a strict “boundary of allocatable assets.” The platform’s data shows U.S. Bitcoin ETFs hold roughly $115 billion, dwarfing Ethereum’s $18 billion. The firm reported that other approved tokens received minimal institutional interest, disrupting the historical trend where Bitcoin’s strength benefited everyone.Winners, Losers, and a Market TransformedThe experiment revealed a market divided into clear camps, with sectors tied directly to compliant capital or dominant market positions thriving.Centralized finance (CeFi), powered by Binance’s BNB, gained over 180%, while assets like XRP, with cleared regulatory hurdles, also excelled.In stark contrast, sectors reliant on venture capital narratives and retail speculation faced a wipeout. Layer-2 networks fell 87%, GameFi dropped 85%, and NFTs declined 68% from the $10 baseline.SoSoValue pointed to the collapse of the “VC cabal — tech narrative — high valuation financing” model, where constant token unlocks from early backers met zero new demand.Even meme coins, a traditional retail refuge, offered little safe harbor. While the sector’s index nearly broke even over two years, it hid a punishing 80% fall in 2025 alone, transformed into a “highly efficient ‘harvesting machine’” by celebrity and political pumps.Bitcoin’s journey from its October high to current levels mirrors this new reality. According to SoSoValue, its record peak was a product of concentrated institutional inflow through ETFs, a strength that did not spread.The subsequent cooling reflects both natural market cycles and the absence of a vibrant, capital-flushed altcoin ecosystem to sustain momentum. However, per the analytics company, the bull market’s riches were not shared; they were funneled into a narrow corridor, leaving the rest of the market to question what comes next in an era that’s slowly being defined by rigor over rumor.The post $10 Crypto Test Exposes Why This Bull Market Feels Broken appeared first on CryptoPotato.