Pump and Dump
Pump & Dump · Pump-and-dump · Pumping · 펌프 앤 덤프 · 작전 (Korean slang for an orchestrated pump)
A manipulation scheme in which people who bought cheaply first push the price up fast (pump) and then sell to the late buyers at the top (dump).
Simple explanation
A pump and dump follows set steps. First a group quietly gathers a coin with little trading and a small market value. Then large orders push the price up within a short time so that it stands out. As it rises it appears on exchanges' top-gainer lists and in chat rooms, paid "signal" groups and social media, and people rush in. While the latecomers buy at high prices, the group sells what it bought earlier. Once its coins are gone there is nothing left to hold the price, and it falls back toward where it started.
Such coins leave similar marks. Trading value jumps to several or tens of times the usual level with no news or notice. The price goes vertical within minutes or hours, then drops and leaves a long upper wick. Nearly all trading happens on Korean exchanges, and a few big orders make up most of it. Upbit and Bithumb may add caution flags such as sharp price swings, soaring volume or trading concentrated in a few accounts. When it happens to a coin with closed deposits, supply from abroad cannot come in and it is even easier (a cage pump).
The promotion sounds alike too: "it's about to go", "target 5x", "an announcement tonight" - a single coin is named and people are hurried. Paid groups sometimes tell members to buy at the same moment. That may simply be early buyers gathering people to sell to, so do not follow without checking the reason.
In Korea, the Virtual Asset User Protection Act took effect on July 19, 2024. It bans price manipulation of virtual assets and fraudulent trading by false information; violations carry heavy criminal penalties, and exchanges must watch for abnormal trading at all times and report suspected cases to the financial authorities. Suspicious trading or promotion can be reported to the exchange or to the Financial Supervisory Service.
CoinGaja's unusual coin signals page shows the marks a pump and dump often leaves as signals: volume surge, spike fade, big move, big orders, Korea-heavy trading and exchange alerts. Be most careful when several stay on together for a long time. A signal only shows a fact, though - real news and fresh listings turn signals on as well, so a signal alone never proves manipulation. This entry is general information, not investment advice.
Example
A group gathers coin B at an average of ₩100 → large orders and promotion lift it to ₩300 within hours (+200%)
Latecomers buy at ₩250-300 while the group sells out
Buyers vanish and the price drops to ₩120 → a buyer at ₩280 is down −57%; the group is up about +150% on average
※ Example numbers, for illustration only
See it on CoinGaja
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