A covert New Year crypto hack on Binance has made headlines, with a trader raking in a massive $1 million profit via the attacker’s failed play. In the latest Binance market maker hack, the illicit actor exploited the vulnerabilities in account security and manipulated the BROCCOLI (714) crypto price.
Notably, the incident has sparked speculations of a possible pump-and-dump scheme. Some also pointed fingers at insider trading. With the details of the BROCCOLI price manipulation still unknown, this Binance market maker hack highlights the risks associated with low-liquidity assets.
Binance Market Maker Hack Unpacked
As 2026 kicks off, social media platforms are abuzz with discussions on the latest Binance market maker hack. While many allege it is an insider job, a trader cleverly capitalized on a hacker’s attempt and secured a massive $1 million. On-chain analyst Lookonchain revealed this series of incidents via their official X post.
Reportedly, the hacker gained control over a Binance market maker’s account and manipulated the BROCCOLI token price through aggressive spot trading. As per trader Vida’s findings, the hacker used the compromised account to purchase spot BROCCOLI and opened leveraged perpetual futures positions through other accounts. This move is speculated to be the trader’s strategic decision to pump spot prices, exploit derivatives, and gain profits.
The attacker’s strategic moves artificially inflated the token prices, but the perpetual futures lagged behind, and bid depth surged to abnormal levels. This raised red flags, with trader Vida, who holds positions in BROCCOLI (714), monitoring the situation. He identified that the BROCCOLI token had a 30% price hike in 30 minutes.
Vida also highlighted a strange structure that caught his attention. As pointed out by him, Binance’s spot order showed an unusually large bid depth; tens of millions of USDT were stacked on the buy side. At the same time, the futures market exhibited only minimal bid depth. While this signaled an abnormal market activity, Vida noted,
“From that, I figured it had to be either a hacked account or a bug in the market-making program, because no whale would be dumb enough to do charity like that—no whale plays spot market like this.”
While Vida recognized the hacker’s move, he went long, riding the artificial pump. He continued to monitor the spot order book while waiting for the Binance risk control system to interfere. The sudden removal of large bid orders signaled the exchange’s possible interventions. During this time, Vida closed his long positions and flipped short. As prices started plummeting, Vida opened a perpetual futures position. Thus, the trader’s clever moves rewarded him with a massive $1 million via a failed Binance market maker hack.
Interestingly, this incident comes hot on the heels of the Trust Wallet hack. The hack, as reported by CoinGape, resulted in the loss of more than $7 million in assets.
Why BROCCOLI?
Significantly, the hacker opted for BROCCOLI, considering its status as a low-liquidity token with a thin order book. This makes it vulnerable to price manipulation. In addition, the token’s shallow market made it the right choice for the trader for the BROCCOLI price manipulation.
Earlier this year, BROCCOLI reportedly faced a massive pump and dump. Following the event, Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, who is connected to the token, assured to compensate victims for their BROCCOLI pump and dump losses.
This raises concerns over the security issues surrounding low-liquidity tokens like BROCCOLI. It also sparks a fresh wave of ambiguity regarding the market maker account security, as well as crypto price manipulation threats.