$SIREN ‌Deep Analysis of SIREN: A textbook-style "Leverage Scam" and Market Manipulation by the Whales

SIREN (SIREN) in March 2026 demonstrated one of the most blatant and aggressive "whale solo performances" in cryptocurrency market history. It is not an asset priced by natural market supply and demand, but a highly controlled "leverage scam" tool. Within a month and a half, its price surged approximately 30 times, pushing its market cap into the top 30 globally, only to plummet 86% in a single day on April 1. Behind this rollercoaster is a meticulously designed scheme targeting contract traders and follow-the-leader retail investors for precise harvesting.
Absolute Control: The Foundation of the Whale's Solo Act
Any successful market manipulation begins with absolute control of the chips, and SIREN's control level is astonishing. According to on-chain analyst Yu Yan’s monitoring, the whales actually control up to 88.5% of the circulating supply, about 644 million tokens.
This data reflects a remarkable accumulation of chips. From late June to early July 2025, the whales built positions through hundreds of anonymous addresses at a very low cost of around $0.045. Just before the price surge in March 2026, these dispersed chips were quickly consolidated into 48 new addresses, achieving absolute market monopoly. This means, apart from the whales themselves, there are almost no sell orders capable of influencing the price, and the entire game’s rules and direction are entirely dictated by a single entity.
Market analysis generally points the finger at the market-making firm DWF Labs. Although co-founder Zac publicly denies involvement, on-chain data shows DWF Labs’ public wallet holds about 3 million SIREN, and its fund transfer activities closely coincide with the timing of large chip accumulation by the whales, making it the prime suspect in this "solo act."
Cross-Exchange Harvesting: Exploiting Spot Depth Disparities to Trigger Contract Market Movements
The core tactic behind SIREN’s surge is a classic "cross-exchange leverage scam." The whales do not manipulate prices by investing heavily in mainstream exchanges but cleverly exploit liquidity differences between exchanges and the anchoring mechanism of contract price indices.
Choosing Weak Spots: The whales operate on exchanges with extremely shallow spot depth.
Small Investment, Big Impact: In this low-liquidity environment, the whales only need to invest around $100,000 to $450,000 to create dramatic price swings of 40% to 78% within minutes. For example, in the early hours of March 23, a buy order of about $450,000 on Gate.io instantly pushed the price from $2.75 to nearly $5.
Triggering the Contract Market: Since the contract price index on mainstream exchanges is anchored to multiple spot prices, false "high prices" created on non-mainstream exchanges are directly transmitted to the futures market. This causes many traders who short on mainstream exchanges to be instantly liquidated. During the surge, SIREN’s total liquidation volume reached approximately $23.25 million, ranking fourth among all cryptocurrencies, behind only Bitcoin, Ethereum, and gold.
This method is highly efficient and low-cost. The whales do not need to invest large sums in the mainstream market but can precisely manipulate the contract market’s counterparties.
Full Manipulation Cycle: From Inducing Longs and Shorts to Final Exit
The entire SIREN manipulation process perfectly demonstrates the complete lifecycle of a whale’s operation—from building positions, pushing prices up, to unloading and smashing the market.
Building Positions and Pumping: After collecting over 88% of the chips at minimal cost, the whales began establishing large long positions in the contract market. Using the "cross-exchange harvesting" method, they pushed the price from $0.08 to nearly $5, a rise of over 30 times, attracting many retail investors to follow and buy.
Inducing Shorts and Funding Rate Arbitrage: At high prices, the whales reverse their positions by placing large short orders, creating a false "top" and inducing retail investors to short. Due to their high control, they can easily keep the price oscillating at high levels, resulting in long-term negative funding rates. This means shorts have to pay longs (the whales themselves) continuously. This "free" cash flow is then used by the whales to further push the price higher, forming a positive feedback loop of "pump-collect short funding- pump again."
Final Exit: On April 1, the whales completed their last harvest. They closed all long positions and started selling spot holdings on-chain and on exchanges, causing the price to crash 86%. This not only trapped late buyers who chased the high but also caught traders who shorted just before the crash off guard. More cleverly, after the crash, the whales bought back some of the previously sold high-priced chips at a very low price of $0.288, completing a perfect cycle of "no coins lost, yet earning 32,900 USDT."
Conclusion: A Blatant Plunder
The SIREN incident is not an isolated case. It mirrors the patterns seen in tokens like PIPPIN, $RIVER, revealing a growing trend of predatory schemes in the crypto market. When a token’s market cap can reach the top 30 globally, yet behind it lies 88.5% absolute control and precise harvesting exploiting market loopholes, it is no longer investing but a highly unfair gamble against retail investors.
For ordinary investors, the SIREN case serves as a stark warning: when facing any "moonshot" token that deviates from fundamentals and exhibits abnormal price movements, stay highly vigilant. When the game’s rules are entirely set by the whales and your holdings are minuscule, the best choice is to stay away from the table.