The ripple effects run deeper than most realize.

There was a time when spotting emerging metas early gave you a real edge—finding solid tokens aligned with the narrative before everyone jumped in. The edge existed because attention was limited and first-movers captured value.

But here's the thing: that playbook doesn't work anymore. The moment a meta starts heating up, new projects flood the market capitalizing on the same trend. Projects aren't waiting to compete in existing categories—they're launching fresh tokens, new mechanics, fresh narratives to capture fresh attention.

So what used to be a clean arbitrage—finding the undervalued meta plays—has turned into a crowded game. You pick a winner, but 50 other projects already did the same calculation. The meta itself becomes diluted. Capital spreads thin across too many options. And individually, each token gets less fuel.

It's that classic pattern: smart money finds an edge, everyone copies it, the edge disappears, the game evolves.