Suspected Manipulation on Binance Sends Meme Coin Wild, Trader Wins Big

A suspected manipulation attempt in BROCCOLI(714) caused extreme volatility that an experienced trader exploited for huge profits.

Unusual trading activity in the low liquidity meme coin BROCCOLI(714) on Binance was flagged on January 1 after the asset experienced an abrupt price increase followed by a sharp reversal.

The volatility allowed the pseudonymous trader “Vida” to generate approximately $1 million in profits by quickly responding to abnormal market signals.

Anomaly in BROCCOLI(714)

To live said he already had spot and derivatives positions in BROCCOLI(714) and had automated alerts set up to identify rapid price increases and large differences between spot and perpetual futures prices. When these alerts were triggered, he noticed extreme imbalances in Binance’s order book. This included unusually large buy orders in the spot market that were not matched by comparable depth in the futures market.

Viewing the behavior as highly irregular, Vida first closed an existing funding rate arbitrage position to secure profits, then added a long position as spot prices continued to rise. He kept a close eye on the order book for signs of the big bids being withdrawn, which he said would indicate an impending turnaround. When those bids disappeared, Vida exited his long positions and quickly switched to short, then closed those trades after prices fell sharply.

If reported by blockchain analytics firm Lookonchain, the activity appeared to be consistent with a hacker gaining control of a market maker’s accounts on Binance. According to Lookonchain, the suspected attacker attempted to move money by aggressively buying spot, opening long perpetual positions through other accounts and using coordinated self-trading. The main reason behind choosing BROCCOLI(714) could be due to its low liquidity and ease of price manipulation.

However, in a subsequent update, Vida said that Binance’s internal investigation found no clear evidence of a hacking incident. The exchange stated that it had not identified any definitive signs of account compromise based on internal data.

Community response

Many traders called the price action fake and constructed. Multiple users said the token traded flat for most of the day before suddenly spiking and crashing, with no real spot demand or on-chain activity to support the move. Others argued the rally was almost entirely driven by futures and indicated forced pressure rather than organic buying.

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The latest incident also raised concerns about supply concentration, as Binance-controlled wallets held a large portion of the tokens, making price discovery highly centralized.