When proactive market makers begin to take initiative

Author: Gu Yu, ChainCatcher

As mainstream cryptocurrencies stabilize and rebound, the altcoin market has suddenly changed, with coins like RAVE, ORDI, and Binance Life experiencing significant surges, with RAVE reaching a maximum increase of 86 times.

It is noteworthy that this is not just an increase in a few tokens, but a collective surge driven by hundreds of tokens. This is a very rare situation in the bear market over the past year.

According to RootData, as of noon on April 17, among tokens with a circulating market cap above $10 million, more than 45 tokens have increased by over 50% in the past seven days, and over 170 tokens have increased by more than 20%, accounting for 19.2% of all tokens with a circulating market cap above $10 million.

If we extend the time frame to one month, there are at least three projects with maximum increases of 10 times, namely RAVE, ARIA, and Binance Life.

Further analysis of these high-increase tokens reveals the following characteristics:

First, they are mainly newly issued tokens from the past year, such as RAVE, Binance Life, and GENIUS, which have all been issued since October of last year. Statistics show that over two-thirds of the tokens were issued within the past year. Due to the high concentration of holdings and the fact that VC token releases have not yet started, project teams and market makers can buy back chips at low prices, creating favorable conditions for manipulating K-lines and prices.

Second, they are primarily AI and meme concept tokens, such as ORDI, SIREN, and KSYAI. Most of these tokens also lack VC investment and holdings, have stronger community consensus attributes, and are part of the popular narratives of the recent cycle, which can better drive investor sentiment.

Third, most of these high-increase tokens have been listed on the Binance contract market, and often show sudden surges (over 50%) as signs of initiation without any favorable news, indicating that their increases have obvious signs of manipulation.

In the second half of last year, the Binance Alpha version also saw continuous high-increase tokens, with many newly listed Alpha tokens experiencing varying multiples of increases. During this process, the key role played by "active market makers" has gradually been recognized by the market.

In fact, the Binance Alpha version is a structured game directed by market makers. Alpha provides chip accumulation and initial flow, Perp amplifies liquidity and volatility, while OI and funding rates become key tools for manipulators.

As more and more high-increase tokens have fallen over 90%, investors have suffered heavy losses. In late March this year, Binance announced it would rectify the chaos among market makers, requiring token project teams to disclose the identities, legal entities, and contract terms of market makers to Binance, prohibiting profit-sharing agreements and guaranteed return arrangements.

However, in hindsight, this rectification has made market makers even more "active." Taking advantage of the easing of the Iranian conflict and the warming of mainstream cryptocurrencies, active market makers have started to aggressively push prices after long-term accumulation, creating one after another "meme coins."

The disasters created by market makers have led many KOLs to remind investors of market risks. "In the past, the altcoin season was a collective buying frenzy driven by retail funds, a genuine market heat. Now, the so-called 'altcoin market' is a performance of a few tokens under high control by manipulators, where liquidity is controlled by manipulators, creating information asymmetry, and price movements depend on their mood. The essence of the two is vastly different; blindly following will only lead to being harvested by the manipulators," crypto KOL Shen Xiaowang posted on X.

Recently, in the "2026 Cryptocurrency Industry Investor Relations and Token Transparency Status Report" released by Connor King, founder of crypto consulting firm Novora, data shows that only 1% of projects disclosed specific market makers and terms, including token lending, options structures, and performance incentives. This means that the market-making status of most projects remains in a black box, with severe lack of transparency.

Now, this wave of enthusiasm has lasted nearly a week, and most high-increase tokens are still hovering at high prices, with only a few tokens like ARIA experiencing significant price declines—ARIA's price has dropped from a high of $1.02 to $0.1.

Regardless of the risks hidden within, exchanges should be pleased with this phenomenon. From a rational business perspective, exchanges should welcome meme coins, as they contribute significantly to transaction fees and generate topics of discussion. The role of meme coins is essentially to artificially create volatility and attention.

"It is impossible for exchanges to completely ban meme coins, as their main income comes from transaction fees. If there are no hot topics in the market, with mainstream coins oscillating daily and volatility not exceeding 5%, without these active market makers creating targets, trading frequency would definitely be lower. Without new targets, there is no sentiment, no stories, and the market will quickly enter a cycle of 'low volatility → low trading → low income,'" Ru7 said.

Currently, the vast majority of altcoins are still at historical lows, with around 20% increases appearing insignificant against declines of over 90%. For example, although ARB has recently risen over 50%, it still needs to increase 20 times to surpass its previous historical high.

Whether this is a "pseudo altcoin season" or the early stage of a long altcoin cycle still depends on the performance of mainstream coins and the macroeconomic environment, as well as the actions of core players.

Thomas "Tom" Lee, Chairman of Bitmine, stated: "Bitmine has maintained an accelerated pace of purchasing ETH every week for the past four weeks, as our fundamental judgment is that ETH is in the final stage of a 'mini cryptocurrency winter.' In the past week, we acquired 71,524 ETH, the highest purchasing speed since the week of December 22, 2025."

Crypto analyst Amr Taha pointed out that multiple indicators reflect that Bitcoin chips are shifting from weak hands to strong hands, showing a steady accumulation rather than aggressive selling. CoinGlass liquidity maps show that a large amount of visible liquidity is concentrated in the $86,000 to $90,000 range. Market sentiment has turned bullish, with traders setting Bitcoin's target price at $88,000.

If the past altcoin season was characterized by "fund-driven increases," the current situation is closer to "structurally manufactured increases." Under the combination of high control, low circulation, and high leverage, both price increases and decreases are greatly amplified—this same logic also means that risks are simultaneously amplified.

When the vast majority of tokens are still deeply mired in historical declines, localized surges appear more like selective releases of liquidity rather than a comprehensive return.

In such a market, chasing increases is often easier than judging trends, but the cost is also higher.