On April 24, 2025, Alpaca Finance (ALPACA) unfortunately 'earned' a spot on Binance's delisting list, becoming the focus of market discussions. According to past experience, tokens selected for delisting typically first plummet 50%, followed by several days of decline, and then a few waves of struggling recoveries, squeezing out the last bit of value. However, ALPACA behaved unusually. After Binance's delisting announcement, ALPACA only dropped less than 20% within ten minutes, far below market expectations.
This made many 'smart' friends smell opportunity: only down 20%? There’s still the contract market? Let's short it and take some profits with a light position; at worst, we can stop-loss and run!
However, the market trend gave these shorts a hard slap in the face. Starting from 12:10 PM that day, ALPACA's price rapidly rebounded, surging over 100% within an hour, followed by violent fluctuations. The long-short struggle of retail investors turned into a feast for main players' harvest. That day, short liquidations reached $4.4609 million and long liquidations $1.6522 million.
Even more exaggerated, in the following days, liquidation amounts continued to soar:
On April 25, short liquidations reached $13.3249 million and long liquidations $2.2671 million;
On April 26, short liquidations reached $13.1199 million and long liquidations $1.8753 million (the liquidation amount within a certain 4-hour period even exceeded that of Bitcoin);
On April 27, short liquidations reached $5.0061 million and long liquidations $2.6325 million.
Bybit has become a major area for liquidations, with major exchanges shortening the ALPACA funding rate settlement period from 8 hours to 1 hour. The rate once dropped to -2%, with shorts being 'cut' every hour, leaving no breathing room.
Is this 'delisting frenzy' a market failure, or a careful layout by main players and the project team? In this article, Song deeply analyzes the reasons for ALPACA's wild fluctuations, revealing the malicious nature of the project's controversial operations and discussing the far-reaching impact of this storm on retail investors and the market.
The driving force behind abnormal trends: main player manipulation and retail investor misjudgment.
ALPACA's abnormal performance stems from the catalytic effect of Binance's delisting announcement and the precise manipulation of main player funds. Normally, after a delisting announcement, it would be like mentioned above, first halving until everyone throws away their chips, then madly pulling and smashing. Many people's first reaction would be, 'Only down 20%? It's so strong after the announcement; why not short it!'
However, if you pay attention to Alpaca's market cap, you will know it is not large, and the circulating supply is easy to control. The main players first accumulate, then use contract leverage to push up the price, directly slaughtering shorts. Later, retail investors make erroneous judgments by shorting during rises and chasing long during falls, becoming the perfect script for the main players to harvest.
The project's malicious operations: threats of increased issuance and trust collapse.
On the 25th, ALPACA rose 400% in one day. At that time, the project team executed a shady operation, planning to increase token issuance. Song speculated that the project team might have already sold off at a low price earlier; now, they leverage the market craze to induce panic selling from retail investors by threatening to increase issuance, creating opportunities for the main players to accumulate at lower prices. As expected, the news of increased issuance triggered a brief market pullback, causing panic selling among retail investors.
Subsequently, the project team announced on Twitter, 'Listening to community opinions, we decided not to increase issuance,' but the related tweet was quickly deleted, leaving a hollow trust vacuum.
What does deleting a tweet mean? It is clear they are playing with retail investors, how many chips have they reclaimed! During this operation, the price trend showed a strong rebound that couldn't be suppressed, indicating the main players had already accumulated enough chips to push the price up again for another harvest.
ALPACA's funding rate trick: How did it 'cut' retail investors' money?
ALPACA's funding rate is simply a 'tool' for main players to harvest retail investors. What is the funding rate? Simply put, it’s a fee that long and short sides pay to balance their positions in the contract market. When there are more shorts than longs, shorts have to pay longs. However, ALPACA played this ruthlessly, changing the settlement period from 8 hours to 1 hour, with rates soaring to -2%, leading to shorts being 'cut' every hour—who can stand that?
How was it 'cut'? On April 24, Binance announced delisting, and ALPACA only dropped 20%. Retail investors felt something was off and rushed to short, causing the short ratio to spike to 75%. As a result, the main players directly pumped the price, doubling it within an hour. Shorts not only faced liquidations but also high fees. For example, if you have a $100,000 short position, you need to pay $2,000 per hour, totaling $48,000 in a day—who can bear that? The main players are even harsher, controlling the spot price upwards, leading to dual blood loss from shorts due to liquidation and fees.
This rate design is clearly meant to trap people. Settling every hour gives retail investors no time to react, and the -2% rate is like a knife cutting flesh. The main players profit from liquidations and fees, making a fortune. The exchange even shortened the settlement period, making it feel like they colluded with the project team and main players. ALPACA's actions have firmly turned short sellers into a 'meat grinder', and retail investors' money has been 'cut' clean.
A textbook on main player manipulation, a history of retail investors' blood and tears.
After being delisted, it surged, and someone pushed up asking why it was going up madly after being delisted. What logic is this? Let’s see He Yi's reply.
In this operation, the main players are like directors, and retail investors are the actors, being abused according to the script. Teacher Mai has not only recovered his capital this time, but also made a fortune. This operation has solidified the position of this operator in the dog farm world by stepping on the bodies of retail investors, and later, those projects that are about to be delisted will worship the capital behind them like gods.
About to enter the final act.
ALPACA contracts will be delisted the day after tomorrow, on the 30th, at which point this performance will also come to an end.
For friends holding spot positions, whether you entered at a low point or were trapped at a high, hurry to exit. After the curtain falls, prices will return to where they were before. In a word—these days felt like a dream. I played with ALPACA; the starting price was 0.038, and after several trades, it's still 0.038, but the difference is my USDT is gone.
Those who make money quietly exit, while those who lose lick their wounds alone. After a few days, a new hotspot will appear, and no one will mention this story again!!!
The 'delisting frenzy' of ALPACA leaves not only the tears of retail investors but also the stark reality of the market. Low market cap tokens are too easy to manipulate, and high-leverage contracts are the graveyard for retail investors. If the project team remains opaque, trust will inevitably collapse.
A word from Song: ALPACA is a lesson. In the future, when encountering coins being delisted, don't rush to short or chase long; keep your eyes open to see the main players' tricks. If ALPACA wants to turn things around, it must honestly disclose its economic model and stop playing tricks with issuance and deletions; otherwise, this 'alpaca' may completely cool down on the DeFi track. As for retail investors? Let's take it easy and not be the 'chives' for the main players anymore!
Conclusion
Reality is constantly changing. Those who cannot adapt to the times will eventually be eliminated, let alone that one day in the human world equals a year in the crypto world!
Here’s a message for everyone: Only innovators can enter, only innovators can be strong, and only innovators can win!!!
If you have been struggling in the crypto world for so many years and are still being pressed down, suffering injuries all over, it shows you haven’t improved.
The lone walker is swift, but the crowd can go far. Song will guide you to ride the winds of the crypto market.
Break your fixed mindset, change your chives-like operational habits, and achieve your future.
