Pump and Dump
Coordinated buying to inflate a thin token's price, dumped on the outsiders who chase the candle.
A pump and dump is manipulated price theater: insiders accumulate a thin, low-liquidity token, ignite a coordinated buying frenzy (Telegram groups, paid influencers, fake news), then unload into the FOMO — leaving latecomers holding an instant -90% chart. Securities law bans this in stocks; in unregulated token markets enforcement is thin and schemes are brazen.
Structural tells: microcap tokens you’ve never heard of “up 300% today,” sudden influencer unanimity, volume orders of magnitude above normal, and concentrated holder charts (visible on a block explorer). The defense is refusing the chase: by the time a pump is visible enough to attract you, you are the exit liquidity.