I have quite a few theories on this given I'm also class of 2017 (technically got in early 2016 but ya). @gainzy222 brings up good points. Class of 2017 really learned to trade during the bull in 17 and the bear in 18. Most of us ran huge amounts up in 17 and then lost it all in 18. We all learned on bitmex and were able to somehow survive in extremely predatory conditions. Note, trading was really the only way that you could make $$ back then. There wasn't any defi, no NFTs, no airdrop farming, nothing. So when 2021 came around, we all PRINTED. Not only were we battle tested from trading in 2018/19, but we also had huge inflows of $$ / liquidity. And this was back when cex trading was still the primary venue- dexes weren't super popular and they were still pretty shit. There was a ton of innovation back then as well. NFTs, DeFi (more in 2020), gaming, etc. Look at that $AXS chart and show me something like that in 2025 on a cex. Pretty hard. I think that class of 2017 has mostly underperformed since that time. A lot of it is purely trading conditions; swing trading altcoins and assuming they will keep going up just doesn't work as well anymore. To be frank with you, most of my peers from the class of 2017 are over and sick of crypto. Many of them lost the hunger, the fire, the drive that got them there to begin with. They are ready to move on and do other things and thus are not as plugged into the market nearly as much. They failed to adapt to the current metas of onchain , trying new things like hyperliquid (I never claimed my airdrop kek), and much more. Just like anything else, if you don't keep up with the trends and where the $$ is flowing, you're going to underperform. Alt selection/dispersion, lack of $$ on cex trading (more onchain in 2024), new dapps, and spread out attention - these are all contributing factors. I could go and write 10 pages more about this but yeah. If you're in this game and love it and you think you'll be doing it forever, the odds are against you. I've seen the majority of my friends bow out, either from getting super giga rich (minority) or just less interested in crypto and wanting to do other things (majority).