The price of the SNM altcoin suddenly rose more than 4,000 percent to $10.91 on Nov. 20, while the coin’s 24-hour trading volume was just over $720 million. The sudden spike in the altcoin’s price has fueled speculation that the altcoin is being targeted by a “pump and dump” group.
Binance dominates altcoin trading volumes
SNM, an altcoin, which had only traded above $1 on April 30, 2021, rose more than 4,000 percent to $6.70 – a new all-time high – on November 20). According to coingecko.com in just under 24 hours, SNM trading volumes have grown from just over $1.2 million on Nov. 19 to over $720 million.
A dead shitcoin that had an ICO in 2017, SNM, suddenly surged nearly 20x on Binance tody. Its official website has not been updated for a long time. The coin is almost exclusively tradable on Binance, but Binance did not delist it. https://t.co/TSaEM36GLg
– Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) November 20, 2022
Prior to the latest spike in altcoin price and traded volumes, SNM, which debuted with an initial coin offering (ICO) price of $0.16 in 2017, was only sold above $0.50 on three occasions, namely August 26 ($0.503), September 12 ($0.707) and September 12 ($0.517). The data also shows that trading volumes also peaked during these same periods.
Although the altcoin, which has an outstanding supply of 44.4 million tokens, is listed on five exchange platforms, the data shows that Binance accounted for more than 99 percent of SNM’s traded volumes on November 20.
Pumping and dumping claims
On Twitter, some users have speculated that the altcoin’s activity could indicate that a pump-and-dump scheme is underway. Chinese crypto journalist Collin Wu tweeted:
I don’t know if this is a counter operation involving stolen coins or a lack of liquidity due to the withdrawal of market makers.
Another user, Andrew Sun, argued that the sudden rise in altcoin price and traded volumes could indicate that an identified group chose to use SNM for pump and dump purposes. Sun tweeted: “A pump and dump group picked it out. They often find dead coins. The ones that have low liquidity and no perpetual contract that will allow people/robots to go short on them to do their pump and then dump.“
A pump and dump group has chosen it. They often find dead coins. Ones with with low liquidity and without a perpetual contract that will let people/bot go short on it to do their pump and then dump.
– Andrew Sun (@andrewsun_83) November 20, 2022