On April 15, 2025, the crypto market was rocked when the OM token — the native asset of the MANTRA project — plunged 93% in just 30 minutes, wiping out over $6 billion in market capitalization. While this seemed sudden to many, closer analysis suggests this was not a random event — it was a calculated, orchestrated manipulation.
A Single Short Triggered a Domino Effect
Analysis shows that one trader executed a short order worth $1 million on the OM/USDT perpetual futures market on Binance. This caused the token’s price to drop more than 5% instantly. That initial dip triggered a series of cascading liquidations and forced sell-offs every 5 seconds, resulting in a swift, uncontrollable collapse.
OKX: The Ideal Exit Route?
While the Binance market was in chaos, the same trader had also placed limit sell orders on OKX — locking in their exit price for over a minute as the rest of the market spiraled down. This timing tricked bots and market makers into buying up OM at stable prices while the true value was collapsing, allowing the attacker to offload a large amount of tokens with minimal slippage.
Many people hesitating about meme coins reaching billions, or even the $100B dream target.
— lynk (@lynk0x) April 16, 2025
1) People have forgotten than majority of retail, even with good degrees and high IQ, think that a $0.00001 token is cheaper than other that is $0.10. They don't understand market cap.
2)…
Poor Liquidity — A Silent Killer
This incident reveals a major vulnerability: a token can have a high market cap but still suffer from weak real liquidity. In such cases, a single actor with sufficient capital can flip the entire market narrative and create an artificial crash.
Final Thoughts
The OM crash wasn't a freak accident. It was a well-planned attack that exposed deep structural flaws in how crypto markets handle liquidity and volatility. For investors, it's a stark reminder to look beyond hype and TVL metrics and assess the true health of a token’s ecosystem.