2026-01-01 06:22:09

The most common tactic among small-cap tokens is wash trading. The operation is actually not complicated: the market maker uses market-making accounts to aggressively pump the price, creating a false appearance of trading prosperity and an upward price illusion, attracting retail investors to follow and buy in. Once the market cap is sufficiently inflated and there are enough bagholders, they switch to contract or spot accounts to start cashing out, instantly dumping the accumulated chips from the market-making accounts. The result is brutal—the price crashes, retail investors lose everything, and the market maker has already transferred the profits to a secure account.

This type of manipulation is frequently successful mainly due to information asymmetry and lack of monitoring. But it’s not entirely impossible to identify. The first defensive approach is to establish an early warning system for abnormal surges—when a small coin experiences irrational rapid increases and suspicious spikes in trading volume within a short period, it often signals wash trading and requires immediate alert. The second, more critical approach is to analyze the manipulator’s behavior path in reverse. Tracking the flow of funds from market-making accounts to contract or spot accounts, observing the time differences between large buy and sell orders, and account linkages can reveal these tricks.

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SatoshiNotNakamoto

· 3h ago

The old trick of pump and dump has long become boring, it's just a different presentation of the same old playbook. Retail investors are still watching the charts, but the big players have already run away haha. By the way, how can such things still be frequently profitable? The information gap is really outrageous. I knew someone was playing tricks the moment the trading volume mysteriously skyrocketed. Tracking account flow is quite ruthless, but most people simply can't see through it. Small coin projects are so deep, it's better to stay away. The key point is the transfer of funds to secure accounts, simple and straightforward.

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LazyDevMiner

· 3h ago

Here we go again with the pump and dump routine, retail investors are really miserable --- It's always the same trick, when will there be real investigations --- Market maker accounts to contract accounts, wow I've seen this move before --- Warning system? Easy to say, who in the crypto world is responsible? --- Fund flow is clear at a glance, the problem is no one is in charge --- Short-term surge and then run, this is the only way out --- The dealer transferring profits is truly brilliant, retail investors can't react in time --- Lack of monitoring is fundamental, what's the point of talking about early warning here --- Time lag and account correlation, okay, let's learn from this --- Don't touch small-cap coins, endless leek-cutting

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DegenWhisperer

· 3h ago

Here we go again. Pump and dump schemes have been everywhere for a long time. The key is that retail investors will never learn to read the charts. I just want to ask, who is going to build this early warning system? The exchange, maybe? Haha. Funds tracking sounds good, but if it's so transparent on the chain, the manipulators have already switched to ten different wallets. No matter how nicely you put it, it's all in hindsight. The real question is whether you can identify them early enough to make money. These manipulators are really bold, not afraid at all.

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