A market moving sideways, going neither up nor down - crabs walk sideways.
Crab market is the crypto term for the condition equity traders call range or chop. Price oscillates within a band, trends fail quickly, and breakouts reverse.
It is the condition that punishes trend strategies hardest and the one in which most discretionary damage accumulates, because setups keep half-appearing. Recognising it early and either standing down or switching to a range approach is worth more than any adjustment to entries. See whipsaw.
Original diagrams for the ideas on this page. Illustrative, not real market data.
Range versus trend. On the left price keeps bouncing between the same floor and ceiling, which is a range. On the right each high and each low is higher than the last, inside a pair of sloping lines called a channel.
Educational only, not advice. Spotted an error? Post in Site Feedback.