In this round of the crypto market plunge, there is a particularly "vivid" case worth pondering—the ZEC whale's manipulation story. The originally confident control plan ultimately turned into a self-competition, and the entire process was full of twists and turns.

**The initial plan seemed perfect**

The whale thought that since ZEC has limited liquidity and relatively concentrated chips, a 50% increase should not be difficult. So they started, and once they began to push the price up, the initial performance was steady, as if everything was under control. The numbers on the chart kept rising, and the chips in the account appreciated accordingly. At this point, no one would have expected a crash script.

**But the market didn't play by the rules**

Suddenly, the situation changed rapidly, with three consecutive blows.

First was the Fed's policy shift. Expectations of interest rate cuts began to cool, and global dollar liquidity faced tightening, which is a death knell for risk assets. Once liquidity becomes tight, all high-risk assets suffer.

Next was the synchronized decline across the entire market. US stocks, gold, and crypto assets all fell together, panic spread, and investors were thinking about how to sell off and run. At this moment, no one cared about a whale's plan to push the price.

The third hammer was regulatory actions. The US plans to join the international cryptocurrency tax framework, which means compliance costs will rise, making things even worse for privacy coins like ZEC.

The whale had just pushed the price up when it hit the market’s selling wave, and the carefully prepared plan instantly collapsed.

**The dilemma of selling off**

ZEC's daily trading volume is limited, but the whale held a lot of chips. Once panic set in, there would naturally be very few takers. Want to force out the position? The price would have to go down further, which would lead to even greater losses. What seems like a simple sell operation actually became an almost impossible task.

**On-chain data reveals the predicament**

Looking at the on-chain activity of whale addresses, surprisingly, there was little movement during this decline. Not because they didn't want to sell, but because they couldn't—once large-scale sell-offs started, they would trigger chain reactions, and nobody could bear the chain liquidations.

**The helplessness in the order book**

The order book on exchanges tells the story. Those large sell orders at high levels are almost certainly from the whale. They still fantasize about a price rebound and order fills, but the market has already lost control. Such illusions are just wishful thinking.

**The rollercoaster of mentality**

The whale's mindset also changed in stages. At first, they were defiant, thinking they could hold on and believed they could turn the tide. But as the risk of their position accumulated, anxiety spread. They hesitated whether to add more margin or worry about triggering liquidation, reaching a peak of stress.

**Individuals can't fight the macro trend**

In the end, no matter how capable the whale is, they can't beat the macro environment. Fed policy adjustments, global market crashes, regulatory pressures—these factors stack up, making individual tactics seem like a drop in the bucket. The recent plunge of ZEC was a trap not only for big fish but also for small retail investors and short-term traders.

This market lesson is quite profound: no matter how meticulous the plan, it must respect the power of the macro environment.