A sudden wave of volatility on Binance led to a seven-figure profit for one trader after a suspected hack caused drastic price fluctuations in a thinly traded token, enabling a perfectly timed long-then-short reversal.
Hacker Tries To Move Stolen Funds
According to on‑chain analysts and firsthand accounts, an attacker gained control of a market maker’s accounts on Binance and tried to move stolen funds by manipulating the BROCCOLI(714) market, a token with limited liquidity and shallow depth.
The attacker aggressively bought spot BROCCOLI tokens with the compromised accounts, stacking tens of millions of USDT on the bid side and sending the price almost vertically while opening leveraged positions from other accounts.
The strategy relied on a classic playbook: use a hijacked account to pump an illiquid spot market, build offsetting derivatives exposure elsewhere, then offload value before the exchange’s risk controls intervene.
For nearly an hour, BROCCOLI’s market cap ballooned toward the 150 million dollar range, and retail traders who chased the move found themselves trading inside someone else’s exit plan.
Vida Spots The Hack Anomaly And Rides The Wave
Cryptocurrency trader Vida, who already tracked BROCCOLI across spot and perpetuals, had set automated alerts for two conditions: a 30% price move within 1,800 seconds and a widening gap between spot and perp prices. Both triggers fired as the hacker’s bids hit the order book, flagging a pattern that looked less like organic demand and more like a compromised algo or hacked account.
Vida went long early, riding the artificial pump as the attacker kept lifting offers and refilling bids. The key signal arrived when Binance risk controls appeared to clamp down, and large bids suddenly disappeared from the spot book, a sign that the support was about to vanish.
At that moment, Vida closed long exposure and flipped short in size on perps, capturing the unwind as BROCCOLI retraced from its inflated levels. By the time liquidity normalized, Vida had locked in roughly 1 million dollars in profit from the round trip.
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