Tellor (TRB) went on a rollercoaster in the past 24 hours, with its price experiencing a surge and a drop that is comparable to that of price manipulation. As a result, the crypto surged to over $600 in the late hours of 2023 before crashing down to $137.
According to data from CoinGlass, TRB witnessed more liquidated positions than any other crypto within this time period, with whales exiting both long and short positions amidst rumors of manipulation.
Wow $TRB pic.twitter.com/TgYqWNtC0u
— Tony “The Bull” (@tonythebullBTC) December 31, 2023
TRB Price Action And Liquidation
TRB has been on a steady price increase since the beginning of the month. This increase was particularly exacerbated on December 31, pushing the crypto to a new all-time high of $602, and a 1000% increase in trading volume, according to Coinmarketcap data. However, this price surge failed to last more than a few hours, as TRB plummeted to $139.
This price volatility saw TRB lead the market in liquidations on both long and short positions. According to CoinGlass, the crypto market saw a total of $227 million liquidated positions in the past 24 hours, with TRB leading with $73.93 million, quite unusual for such a low market cap altcoin. ETH and BTC followed with $24.7 million and $22.74 million worth of liquidated positions.
While the reason for the astounding price spike is unclear at the moment, the subsequent crash has been attributed to price manipulation from the Tellor team. According to a post on X (formerly Twitter) by Lookonchain, the Tellor team deposited 4,211 TRB worth approximately $2.4 million on Coinbase as the price skyrocketed.
In the past 24 hours, $TRB soared to $600 and then plummeted to $137, causing $68M of assets to be liquidated, making it the most liquidated token.
We noticed that the #Tellor team deposited 4,211 $TRB($2.4M) after the price of $TRB skyrocketed.
Address:https://t.co/efHPXCiMiG pic.twitter.com/IBty2Wf2gI
— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) January 1, 2024
Tellor price suffers 75% crash following massive surge | Source: TRBUSD on Tradingview.com
Price manipulation is certainly not a new phenomenon in the crypto industry, especially among low market-cap altcoins. The transfer into Coinbase has got investors wondering about a selloff from the team, as TRB crashed in the hours after. Nonetheless, this remains a speculation at this point.
TRB is the utility token for Tellor, a decentralized oracle network that provides real-world data to blockchain-based smart contracts. TRB mostly traded below $15 for the majority of the year. Things started to get hot in September as the cryptocurrency started to exhibit a very high level of volatility at this point. TRB kickstarted a sustained price surge in the middle of September that saw it reach $140 on November 9. After reaching this point, it went through a price dip throughout the month to the end of November at around $77.
December saw a change in momentum, with price action indicating a steady surge since the beginning of the month. At the time of writing, TRB is trading at $191, still up by 143% in a 30-day timeframe.