After the delisting announcement on Binance, Alpaca Finance (ALPACA) experienced an impressive four-digit price increase over the past week.
This unexpected market behavior has sparked intense discussions among analysts and traders. Many experts suggest that this could be a case of market manipulation.
Why did the price of ALPACA rise despite the delisting from Binance?
Typically, a listing on Binance is a bullish signal for tokens, often raising prices due to increased visibility and liquidity. However, recent trends indicate the opposite nature of this pattern.
On April 24, Binance announced the delisting of four tokens, including ALPACA. While the value of all other tokens decreased, the price of ALPACA sharply increased. BeInCrypto data showed that the token rose in price by over 1,000% in the last seven days.
However, momentum seems to have somewhat slowed as ALPACA approaches its delisting on May 2. Over the past day, its value has decreased by 34.5%. At the time of writing, it was trading at $0.55. However, the unusual rise of ALPACA has caught the attention of market observers.
"ALPACA is the worst cryptocurrency manipulation I have seen recently. How can you raise the token from 0.02 to 0.3, then sell it back to 0.07 and raise it again from 0.07 to 1.27, and then drop it back to 0.3?" wrote a user.
Analyst Budhil Vyas called this a "classic liquidity hunt." He explained that large market players, or whales, initially lowered the price by 80%, causing panic and liquidations. Then, just before the 2-hour delisting deadline, they quickly raised the price 15 times. Vyas believes this was a strategic move to extract liquidity from the market, as these whales were desperately trying to secure positions before the asset's removal from the exchange. He further emphasized that no real accumulation was taking place.
The analyst noted that the price increase was purely tactical. It was aimed at exhausting the remaining liquidity in the market.
"This is cryptocurrency in 2025. Stay vigilant," Vyas warned.
Meanwhile, Johannes also provided a detailed analysis of the mechanisms behind such price manipulations. In his latest post on X (formerly Twitter), he explained that sophisticated market participants exploit low liquidity that arises after delisting announcements.
The strategy involves dominating a significant portion of the token's supply. Traders take large positions in perpetual futures, betting on the token's price increase, as these contracts are more liquid than spot markets.
They then buy the token on the spot market, increasing demand and price. With most of the supply under control, the selling pressure is minimal, allowing the price to rise.
After the delisting, positions in perpetual futures are forced to close with minimal slippage. This allows traders to lock in significant profits.
DeFi analyst Ignas also shared his insights on the situation. According to Ignas, this pattern has been observed before, especially during delisting announcements on the South Korean exchange Upbit.
He noted that delistings have previously received similar, if not greater, attention from speculators than new listings in the country.
"The delisting window requires closing deposits, so with a limited influx of new tokens, degens raise the price to get one last 'hurrah' before the inevitable drop," he wrote.
Ignas cited Bitcoin Gold (BTG) as an example. The price of the altcoin rose by 112% after Upbit announced its delisting, indicating that such price-increasing behavior still occurs.
These cases have sparked discussions about whether the pattern of "rise → delisting" is becoming a new trend. As the crypto market evolves, these manipulative practices highlight the urgent need for research, vigilance, and enhanced regulatory oversight to protect investors from predatory strategies.#Write2Earn #BinanceSquare #Squar2earn #BinanceAlphaAlert #Binance $ETH
