[Digital Today reporter Hyunwoo Choo] Bitwise chief investment officer Matt Hougan said the crypto market is becoming closer to a contrarian buying zone than a full-scale bear market. CoinPost, a blockchain media outlet, reported on Tuesday that he laid out three key trends in a regular memo to explain the current market.

Hougan first said crypto investing is increasingly taking on the character of contrarian investing. With recent investment money flowing into AI-related stocks, robotics companies and SpaceX, which is being talked about for a listing, buying crypto has become closer to a contrarian move than trend-following. He also pointed to bitcoin's price decline and ETF outflows as among the results of that shift in funds.

He said contrarian investing can be a viable tool, but returns are generally unstable. He also said it requires more patience, a longer-term view and a focus on fundamentals than momentum trading. As a basis for the change, he cited money concentrating in assets with clear fundamentals. He cited Hyperliquid's HYPE as a representative example and said investors still believe in the value of crypto.

He also analysed that the shape of a bear market has changed from the past. In past winter markets, money tended to flow into bitcoin amid risk aversion, but now it is moving into assets that are relatively smaller and have fewer results yet still have a chance of success and fundamentals. He noted that while major assets such as bitcoin are weak, HYPE, BNB, ZEC and XLM have risen sharply.

Based on those trends, Hougan said the market may be moving closer to the end of a winter market than the start. In a winter market, all assets tend to fall, but some assets are showing strength now, he said.

He also cited legislative uncertainty over the Clarity Act, a U.S. bill on crypto market structure, as a factor weighing on the market. The key is to look at where money is moving, rather than the price drop itself, he said. He interpreted the rise in HYPE, BNB, ZEC and XLM despite bitcoin's weakness as showing that the market's focus is shifting toward selective buying within crypto and fundamentals-led investing.