You Think you're trading against other retail traders?

You're not.

You're trading against Market Makers, and they've already made their move before you even hit "Buy." They run the show.

They manipulate the charts.

And they pocket billions while most traders bleed.

I spent 2 years studying how they do it. Here are 6 manipulation tactics they use every single day, often without anyone noticing.

If you trade crypto and don’t understand these, you’re not in the game, you’re in the trap.

Who Are Market Makers, Really?

On paper, market makers are just liquidity providers. They place buy and sell orders, make trading smoother, and keep markets efficient. Sounds helpful, right?

But behind the curtain, they’re strategic predators.

They aren’t here to trade. They’re here to extract liquidity from you—often through tactics most people don’t even realize are manipulations.

Here’s how they do it:

1. Wash Trading

Fake volume. Fake hype. Real losses—for you.

Market makers trade with themselves to create the illusion of demand. You see big volume and think, “This is going to moon.”
So you ape in.

Too late. That activity was just noise. You were never supposed to win.

Stat: In 2019, Bitwise found that 95% of Bitcoin volume on unregulated exchanges was pure wash trading.

2. Spoofing

Fake orders to fake you out.

They’ll place massive buy/sell walls they never plan to fill—just to move the price and bait you into a bad trade.

You buy because you think “someone big is loading up”?
Boom—spoof order canceled. Price tanks.
You’re left bag-holding.

3. Bear Raiding

They weaponize fear.

Market makers can crash the price by selling or shorting hard during uncertain times. The goal? Trigger panic.


People start selling in fear—prices plummet even more.

They buy it all back cheaper while you're licking your wounds.

4. FUD Tactics

Negative news isn’t always organic.

Sometimes it’s planted or amplified to shake you out of a position.

  • In 2017, Chinese exchange ban rumors dropped BTC 30%

  • Jamie Dimon called Bitcoin “a fraud”—market tanked

The timing? Convenient. The purpose? Market manipulation through fear.

5. Sell Wall Manipulation

Psychological warfare on the order book.

A massive sell wall appears just above the market price. Retail panics. “Price won’t break this wall,” they think.

But it’s a trick. The wall disappears once enough people sell in fear.
Guess who’s buying cheap now?

6. Pump and Dump

Still happening. Still deadly.

Tokens are pumped by coordinated buys—often led by insiders or influencers. Then dumped once you FOMO in.

In October 2024, the FBI busted a $25M scheme called Token Mirrors—proof that pump-and-dumps aren’t dead. They’re just better hidden.

Here’s the Truth

Crypto isn’t fair. It’s rigged—unless you learn the rules.

These strategies aren’t theory. They happen every day, in plain sight. And now you know what to look for.

Stop being exit liquidity.
Start playing like they do.