The cryptocurrency market is famous (or infamous) for its volatility, which can be very rewarding (or punitive) in trading activities. A crypto trader, for example, had a taste of both of the two worlds, going from $270,000 of unrealized losses up to a $4.5 million in unrealized gains – all within a day.
This impressive comeback story was first reported by Lookonchain, in a post on X on January 23. The trade was with VINE, a recently launched Solana-based memecoin on pumpdotfun. On that note, pumpdotfun is a platform that became known in Solana (SOL) for hosting thousands of memecoin rug pulls.
How the crypto trader turned $270,000 losses into $6 million gains in a day
As reported, the trader first turned 20 SOL into 23 SOL with a quick trade of 1 million VINE. Right after selling it, however, VINE surged, causing the trader to ‘FOMO’ back in, buying far more at higher prices.
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This time, the crypto trader spent 1,463 SOL, worth $374,000 to buy 26.6 million VINE. After the massive purchase, VINE crashed by around 70% from his average cost, totaling $270,000 in unrealized losses.
In a conviction play, or refusing to accept the loss and capitulate, the trader held strongly for a few more hours, being highly rewarded with impressive gains. By press time, the crypto trader sits on nearly $6 million of unrealized profits, with VINE trading at $0.2284.
Memecoins and the Greater Fool Theory
Cryptocurrencies are inherently volatile and present considerable risks for traders, investors, and users, even with solid and usable projects. Yet, trading memecoins adds another layer of risks and bigger volatility.
Moreover, this asset class has characteristics that resemble financial bubbles. The “Greater Fool Theory” explains memecoin dynamics, being speculative tokens moved by social hype and buzz without an organic demand.
Traders buy the token with the expectation that a “greater fool” will pay a higher price in the future. Nevertheless, the scheme fades away once there are no “greater fools” to continue fueling the price up, often facing liquidity issues and death spirals.
For this reason, crypto traders should be careful while looking for “greater fools” to make them rich, as they risk becoming the “greater fool” themselves while doing so. Sometimes, however, the trade will play out as expected, giving remarkable returns like this one and feeding the desire to pursuit this prize one more time, until it does not work anymore.
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