The most common tricks in the crypto market are often hidden in those seemingly "opportunity" details.

**The Truth Behind KOL Endorsements**

Project teams have long targeted high-traffic influencers. They offer KOLs an enticing plan: pay upfront for allocations, and the project will reimburse later. On the surface, KOLs are just free riders, but in reality? These KOLs are trapped. Once they receive the tokens, they must promote vigorously on social media, hyping the project to the sky. Retail investors see that even KOLs are buying, so how could it be fake? They rush to follow the trend.

But at the moment of opening, everything flips. The spot price hits 0.4U, while the futures contract is pushed down to 0.28U, a full 30% difference. When such extreme price gaps appear, the market immediately explodes. Retail investors panic and open short positions to hedge risks, and funding rates even turn negative. And what about the whales? They take advantage of this chaos to quietly build long positions at the bottom. When the market reverses later, retail shorts are forced to liquidate, and the whales are ready to harvest.

**Three-Stage Pumping Theory**

First, let's talk about the first stage. Whales won't push directly; that's too obvious. Their routine is small rises → trigger short liquidations → then sharply dump. Repeating this cycle several times, retail shorts are wiped out one by one, and the chips gradually fall into the whales' hands. It looks like market volatility, but in fact, it's a carefully designed "long and short manipulation."

The second stage is even more cunning. When the market becomes somewhat numb, whales release bad news: "Price is hard to break 1U," or "The project has issues." At this point, retail investors and KOLs who are still in the game see someone bearish and think, why not open a short to hedge? So short positions become increasingly dense, everyone is heading in the same direction. Funding rates stay negative, and shorts form a long queue.

The third stage is the harvest moment. When shorts are heavily accumulated, whales suddenly reverse and push aggressively. Breaking previous highs continuously, rushing upward. Retail shorts can't react in time and are forcibly liquidated, while whales profit immensely from this rally.

**Why Do People Keep Falling for This Routine?**

Simply put, it's information asymmetry. KOLs seem trustworthy, but they are also part of the scheme. Retail investors can't see where whales are building positions. Data like funding rates and price gaps are public, but few can read the traps from them. Coupled with greed for quick riches, a single misstep can trap you.

This manipulation technique has become textbook in the crypto world. Next time you see a project with big KOL endorsements and strange price gaps at launch, remember to think carefully—this might just be the opening act of the show.