The reason why problematic tokens in contract trading become tools for retail investors to be exploited is fundamentally because the market makers hold absolute market dominance. Recent high-profile cases exposed in the market reveal four stages in the process of market makers attracting investors, locking in funds, and then unloading—each stage filled with deadly traps waiting for retail investors.

**Stage 1: False Prosperity Inducing Short Positions**

Market makers will artificially push the price of a coin to an unreasonable high level, creating the illusion that "it will definitely fall this time," thereby enticing a large number of short positions. Once the short positions are sufficiently concentrated, the market maker reverses course, injects funds to push the price up, causing all short positions to be liquidated simultaneously. Through this process, the market maker profits while clearing out opponents. The liquidity of problematic tokens is inherently poor, so a small amount of capital can manipulate the price.

**Stage 2: The Boiling Frog Effect of Funding Rates**

Some contract products settle fees on an hourly basis. Market makers control the price within a certain range, causing it to oscillate repeatedly, forcing traders to pay fees every hour. Holding long-term? Then your principal is gradually eroded by fees. Many investors find that the price hasn't dropped much, but they end up losing money due to continuous fee payments. This invisible harvesting is even harder to prevent than a sudden crash.

**Stage 3: Sudden Collapse to Zero**

These tokens lack real value support; once the market maker unloads, no one is left to take the other side. History is replete with cases where billions of dollars were drained within weeks, and the perpetrators simply ran away—leaving victims with tokens that cannot be liquidated. It’s common to see prices drop from $20 to $0.02 in Ponzi-like tokens.

**Stage 4: Platform Risk**

Problematic tokens are ultimately delisted by exchanges, leaving holders completely trapped.

These four traps are interconnected, from inducing entry to leaving investors with nothing. For retail investors, the best defense is to stay away from contract products with poor liquidity and abnormal trading activity.