Delisted by Binance but big pump, the extreme manipulation of the market maker of Alpaca Coin.

Jessy, Jinse Finance

According to common sense, a token being delisted by an exchange is a significant negative news.

However, this pattern was not perfectly replicated with the ALPACA token, which will be delisted from Binance on May 2nd. Initially, when the news of ALPACA's delisting came on April 24th, it also experienced a brief decline, but then its price surged more than tenfold within the following three days.

By April 30th, the price had increased nearly 50 times from when it was announced to be delisted. According to Coinglass data, the liquidation amount of ALPACA tokens in the past 24 hours reached 50 million USD, surpassing Bitcoin.

Behind such an absurd phenomenon is merely a perfect harvest by the ALPACA traders.

The absurd manipulation by the big players, the lament of the retail investors

About five days before Binance announced the delisting of ALPACA on April 24, the trading volume of the ALPACA token suddenly increased, and its price nearly doubled at its peak. At this time, it can be inferred that the whales were accumulating at low prices ahead of the delisting announcement.

However, when the news of the delisting was officially released on April 24, retail investors expected the price to plummet, with the long-short ratio reaching 1:4 at that time. Contrary to the expectations of retail investors, the price of the token did not continue to fall; instead, after a brief drop of 30%, it began to rise.

Exchanges also play an important role in this process. Binance has shortened the settlement period for contract funding rates from 8 hours to 1 hour. When the rate drops to -2%, it indicates that airdrops need to pay high rates to short, and the high rates also lead to shorts closing their positions, causing the price of the tokens to rise accordingly.

However, the changes in fees do not take effect at every moment above the price fluctuations of this token on ALPACA.

ALPACA is always contrary to common sense, and it is precisely because of this contrariness that many traders make mistakes when trading according to "rules." For example, on April 29, Binance raised the ALPACA contract fee limit to ±4%. Normally, an increase in the fee limit would discourage short sellers, and the token's price should rise. However, its price did not rise as it did on April 24, but instead experienced a decline, dropping directly by 3/4.

By April 30th, the game of the market makers, which had been twisted back and forth between bulls and bears, reached its peak, with the highest price 20 times higher than the lowest price within 24 hours. At 5 PM on April 30th, Binance delisted the ALPACA contract, causing ALPACA to drop over 60% from its peak before starting to rise again.

In the past 24 hours, the largest liquidation order for ALPACA on the entire network occurred on Bybit, amounting to 3.98 million USD. The liquidation volume of ALPACA contracts also topped the list.

Summary:

The most intriguing aspect of this event is that the coordination between the big players and the news was too perfect, leaving retail investors baffled. Moreover, the exchange itself has also somewhat become an accomplice in this situation.

For example, the adjustment of contract fees by Binance this time seemingly aimed at maintaining market stability, but it was exploited by manipulators. On April 29, Binance raised the ALPACA fee to ±4%, originally perhaps to discourage short sellers, but the price instead fell, and the open interest increased contrary to expectations.

The market makers undoubtedly took advantage of this news, catching the retail investors off guard. This also indicates that the formulation and adjustment of exchange rules need to be more cautious, fully considering various possible situations to avoid giving market manipulators an opportunity.

This incident has revealed that retail investors are merely playthings that can be harvested at any time by the big players; wanting to dance with the big players is akin to dancing on the edge of a knife.