i've come to an important realization after being through multiple cycles in the trenches almost every major runner that has emerged follows a three-step process: 1. a small, introductory pump fueled by hype around its launch. many get too excited here and declare it the future of finance, but the next step is almost always inevitable 2. a massive, aggressive pullback with long periods of consolidation at its lows this step is pretty much a rite of passage for runners that end up going mainstream—but it's also where many give up, as they consider a runner or narrative dead when this phase kicks in - it happened to SHIB, which suffered a 90%+ correction shortly after launch and consolidated for months before pulling an explosive move that pumped thousands of Xs - it happened to BONK, which also saw a 90%+ correction shortly after launch and consolidated for almost a year before rallying hundreds of Xs - it happened with SPX, which went through a 90%+ correction after launch and consolidated for a year before pumping hundreds of Xs after Murad picked it up i could go on and on, but almost every major runner we have today went through this phase it is extremely hard to see strong, ORGANIC runners go mainstream without passing through step 2 3. an explosive rally after a very long period of consolidation (usually months!), where the runner starts pumping 'out of nowhere'. the pump may be triggered by a catalyst (SHIB's was the memestock moment, SPX's was Murad, etc) or for seemingly no reason (BONK's was spontaneous, without any obvious external driver) while many tend to focus on what the catalyst is at this stage, the reality is the project would likely have pumped regardless of the catalyst. of course, how high it pumps without the catalyst is another matter entirely the problem we have today is that many are attracted to memecoins because they see projects in their Step 3 rally phase. they see their favorite KOLs attributing the pump to some random narrative—and then assume that narrative alone is the reason for the pump so they expect every good coin with a good narrative to pump immediately and aggressively—and to keep pumping without pause—because 'that’s how it’s supposed to be' they expect an instant 100 or 1,000x on new runners with 'a good narrative.' and when that doesn't happen, they immediately conclude that the narrative is 'forced' or the coin isn't good enough then they declare the trenches dead sorry to break it to you, but you're playing this game wrong if you assume that a runner needs to immediately pump to crazy levels—or else it's dead or forced you're not going to make it in the trenches if you don’t have strong conviction and aren’t willing to HODL it’s always been this way, and it’ll likely always be this way