The Binance Alpha with ticker AB token saw a collapse early on Oct. 9, falling from $0.0083 to $0.0000051 in just two minutes, a 99% drop, according to market data from Binance. Although the price has since slightly recovered to $0.00151, it is still down over 80% for the day, indicating what looks to be one of the most severe intraday crashes of any asset listed on Binance this year.
Extreme volatility surge
An increase in trading activity coincided with the extreme volatility. Over 573,000 tokens were exchanged in a brief period of time, generating a 24-hour volume of over $5 million. At about $2.17 million, the token’s liquidity is still incredibly low, and its market capitalization is close to $93 million. Data shows that the top 10 holders own more than 97% of the total supply of AB, a degree of concentration that leaves the token extremely vulnerable to abrupt liquidity drains or price manipulation.
Several possibilities come to mind when discussing possible causes:
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Whale dump or internal transfer error: A large holder may have purposefully or inadvertently liquidated their position, causing the sudden sell-off. Because ownership is so concentrated, it could have had a cascading effect if one wallet sold off a sizable amount.
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Oracle or smart contract exploit: Although no verified breach has been documented, these types of flash crashes frequently happen when price oracles provide inaccurate values to automated systems, or when trading algorithms interpret market data incorrectly.
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Another possibility: A liquidity provider may have temporarily withdrawn or lost balance support, leaving the order books thin and susceptible to significant slippage. This is known as a liquidity pull or market maker withdrawal.
Regarding the incident, Binance has not yet released an official statement. The token’s recovery is still uncertain as of right now, and the high volatility emphasizes the dangers of newly launched or thinly traded tokens, especially those with a high holder concentration. As the cause of the crash is not clear, staying away from the token is probably the wisest decision right now.
