One of my worst financial decisions

One of my worst financial decisions was purchasing Bitcoin this summer near its all-time high. To compound the mistake, I sold a significant portion of my gold holdings and reallocated that capital into Bitcoin. Shortly thereafter, gold surged and still surging while Bitcoin declined sharply. The timing could not have been worse.

Bitcoin has increasingly become a playground for large market participants who manipulate the market for profit. I initially believed Bitcoin would behave more like gold, serving as a store of value, but in practice it has traded more like a high-risk equity. While I am not selling at this point, my confidence has steadily eroded.

There is no question that Bitcoin is an outstanding technology with the potential to address fundamental issues inherent in fiat monetary systems. However, the market is now dominated by powerful institutional players, and that reality is unlikely to change. As Bitcoin approaches valuations such as $100,000, retail investors are effectively sidelined, leaving institutions free to pursue profit-driven strategies—including market manipulation. Also not getting why BTC price goes down even though companies like Strategy are buying like crazy. Where is the supply / demand logic here??

If the argument is that these violent price swings are necessary to liquidate leveraged traders, one has to ask why other asset classes do not experience comparable volatility. Why is gold rising parabolically? Why are most assets incl risky ones like equities appreciating while Bitcoin has declined more than 30% since summer?

I hope Bitcoin recovers so that I can meaningfully reduce my exposure before the next major downturn—one that may again be driven by manipulative actions from market makers.