'You want to catch the bottom, but the operators want to sell the project to you.'
$OM tokens have been a hot topic in the crypto circle recently, with prices soaring from a few cents at the trough to a peak of $9 on February 22, 2025, attracting a large number of retail investors.
However, on April 14, 2025, the price suddenly collapsed. At 00:30, the price of $OM fell from $6.1 in a testing dip, and at 02:15 it accelerated to a crash, reaching $2.43, and finally dropping to $0.37 at 03:45, with a maximum drop of 95%.
This sharp decline caused many retail accounts to be wiped out, and a tsunami-like sell-off led to widespread market lamentation.
Whales began to build nests, low-cost accumulations, and the myth of price manipulation.
$OM The rise of tokens began with early layouts by a group of 'insiders'. Between 2023 and 2024, multiple institutions and whales built positions at a very low cost:
- Manifold Trading accumulated 9.33 million OM at an average price of $0.04, investing only $378,000, but cashed out $15.32 million in 11 months, with unrealized gains exceeding $35.2 million.
- Another giant whale bought in at $0.025, netting $6.53 million after holding for a year, with a return rate of 161 times.
These low-priced chips became the 'nuclear weapon' for whales to manipulate the market.
From January to February 2025, the price of OM was repeatedly pushed up to the $6-$7 range, as whales used high-frequency accumulation (such as buying 2.5 million OM in one go at an average price of $6.81) to create market heat and attract retail investors to follow suit.
The address ending with contract 1a28 transferred 20 million OM to OKX, having previously withdrawn 40 million OM from Binance a month prior. This indicates that whales may first push up the price, as in the early 2025 peak of $8.81, and then sell off in large quantities, triggering market panic.
Additionally, data from IntoTheBlock (according to user @nushant01's post on April 11 at 23:20 PDT) showed that large holders had cashed out about $760 million of $OM, further confirming the scale of whale sell-offs. Another piece of data indicated that in February, 285 addresses held 21 million OM in the $7.4-$7.52 range (according to posts from user @FishTheWhales on April 7 and April 10, whales had previously bought), and once these addresses sold off, market support could be breached.
Changes in total supply may also exacerbate manipulation. A post by user @Raadmano on April 8 mentioned that the total supply of $OM would double from 900 million to 1.8 billion in 2024, with a circulating supply of 970 million. This significant increase provided whales with more 'cannon fodder', ultimately even modifying the total token supply to infinity, facilitating market price manipulation.
Passing the parcel, staking unlocks, and a wave of sell-offs.
When prices reached high levels, whales began to 'net in'. On March 11, a certain whale unstaked 7.69 million OM (cost price $0.031) and threw 5 million onto Binance, potentially making a profit of 197 times if fully cashed out. Meanwhile, Manifold Trading reduced their holdings by 3 million OM, making a single profit of $22.7 million, completely shattering market confidence with the signal of institutional 'victorious retreat'.
Ironically, in early March, a retail whale purchased 20 million OM at a high price of $143 million, only to be down $4.7 million just four days later, becoming 'the last bag holder'. This game of passing the parcel ultimately ended with a river of blood for retail investors.
The dust settled, and the market response reflected the impact on retail investors.
With a market cap of 10 billion, such a dump, ending in this manner, resembles a farce; the manipulation is so blatant that it is truly rare. Market sentiment and confidence in cryptocurrencies have been severely undermined.
Discussions on X reflect the disappointment and anger of retail investors. Earlier, a post by user @MPipwizard on April 11 predicted a target of over $10 for $OM, while @iam_kingcrypto's post on March 20 described its chart as 'extremely resilient', but after the crash, X was filled with lamentations of 'failed bottom fishing' and 'accounts wiped out'.
The story of OM is not an exception but a microcosm of the cryptocurrency market. Who still remembers last year's $HIGH ? Whales turned tokens into 'harvesting tools' through information asymmetry, capital advantages, and emotional manipulation. For ordinary investors, blindly following trends and ignoring underlying logic will only make them fuel for this game.
Everyone wants to profit and thinks they can escape at the top.
When the tide goes out, OM's 'zeroing path' will eventually turn into a lesson of blood and tears in risk education — in the crypto world, the only rule for survival may be 'don't believe in myths, protect your principal'.
