Trader Bags $1m From ‘abnormal’ Broccoli714 Memecoin Activity On...

A trader claimed to have made $1 million by timing a long-short trade after spotting abnormal activity by a market maker account on Binance, while the exchange denied any security breach.

A trader claimed to have profited about $1 million on New Year’s Day by capitalizing on “abnormal” trading behavior of a suspected market maker account on Binance.

Investor Vida said on X that the abnormal trading activity was tied to BROCCOLI714, a low-liquidity token on the BNB Chain.

The memecoin had an abrupt price surge followed by a sharp reversal early Thursday morning in Asia, which Vida said was driven by unusually large spot buy orders on Binance’s order book.

“I figured it had to be either a hacked account or a bug in the market-making program, because no whale would be dumb enough to do charity like that,” a machine translation of Vida’s post reads.

Vida relied on automated alerts to identify rapid price moves and gaps between spot and perpetual markets. The trader went long as spot buying drove prices up, then reversed to short once pressure faded and futures liquidity normalized.

Related: Binance mulls new US strategy, CZ potentially reducing stake: Report

Social media discussions expressed suspicion that the abnormal activity was caused by a hack, a theory that has since been rejected by Binance.

In a statement to Cointelegraph, a Binance spokesperson acknowledged the online discussions surrounding the BROCCOLI714 price movement and said the exchange had launched an internal review.

“Based on initial system checks, Binance’s risk controls and security mechanisms are operating as intended,” the spokesperson said, adding:

Source: CoinTelegraph