For example, imagine investing just $100 on xrp, or Sol or Ada, if the marketcap of any of this tokens doubles or even triples which is unlike to happen except in an extreme altseason, you still won't be getting up to a thousand dollars on profit.
But choosing a very good low marketcap Altcoin can be much more profitable since it has a chance of trippling it's marketcap over and over and over and over again if and when the project hits the spotlight, though the risk is higher no doubt, but it's definitely more profitable if you are lucky enough to make the right choice.
I agree that these days top altcoins are for whales and lower or microcaps are better suited for smaller fishes and speculators,
That said, i have to point out that people have been saying that since forever.
That's because while marketcaps were significantly lower for coins like bitcoin, majority of people still thought that they aren't going to 10x. Because nothing like this happened before, so there was no realistic reason to believe it. And for big players (and leverage traders), smaller moves with huge liquidity are worth more then any move in traditional stocks. And i am guessing they make more profits with those then trying to pump some lowcaps in hopes for someone providing exit liquidity.