Trader Loses $8 Million in Attempt to Inflate ARC Token Price, 2026/02/26 12:15:42

A prominent trader endeavored to artificially elevate the price of the utility token ARC on the decentralized derivatives trading platform Lighter; however, this approach resulted in liquidations and losses exceeding $8 million.

Over several days, the trader increased a long position by purchasing tokens at approximately $360,000 every hour. In total, he invested 8.39 million USDC and established a position worth $20.45 million, intending to sell 210 million ARC at a higher price. Amidst the aggressive buying, the token’s price briefly surged to $0.15. This increase triggered selling from other significant market participants. Notably, one “whale” sold 9.8 million ARC at a price of $0.115, realizing a profit of about $1.13 million while retaining an additional 6.4 million tokens.

Following the spike, a wave of liquidations occurred, causing the price of ARC to nearly halve. The long position of the initial trader was liquidated. He managed to withdraw 3.06 million USDC, but the initial losses amounted to approximately $5.3 million. After the forced liquidation and the activation of the platform’s liquidity protection mechanisms, the total losses for the “whale” reached $8.2 million. Traders who opened short positions gained around 5% amid the price decline.

As of Thursday, February 26, ARC is trading below $0.04. In the past day, the token has decreased by more than 71%, according to data from CoinGecko.

In light of the declining prices of Bitcoin and Ethereum, some investors are shifting their focus to altcoins. Over the past two weeks, funds focused on XRP have attracted $33.4 million. Since the beginning of February, the inflow of funds has reached $105 million, and since the start of the year, it has totaled $151 million. Similar figures have been reported for funds targeting Solana: since the start of the month, they have received $41.6 million, as noted by CoinShares analysts.