In the early hours of January 1, 2026 (New Year's Day), the meme coin BROCCOLI714 on the Binance exchange experienced unusually volatile price fluctuations. This token, associated with Broccoli, the beloved dog of Binance founder CZ(CZ), previously had low liquidity and low trading volume. However, its price surged by over 1000% in a short period, rapidly rising from approximately $0.014 to $0.16, before quickly crashing back down. This sudden price movement shocked the crypto community and allowed some traders to profit.
Cause of the incident: Dispute arising from abnormal account activity
Market observers believe the incident involved a market maker account being hacked or experiencing a program malfunction, resulting in a large amount of capital being placed on the spot market with buy orders regardless of cost. The buy depth reached as high as $26 million, forcibly pushing up prices. Many traders and media initially referred to it as a "hacking incident" or "account anomaly," but Binance responded that after a preliminary internal investigation, no clear signs of a hacking attack were found, nor had they received any reports of stolen accounts.
Trader Vida seizes the opportunity: earns a million dollars overnight.
In response, Formula News founder @Vida_BWE (Vida) publicly stated on the X platform that he netted approximately $1 million from this incident.
Vida stated that he originally held spot and contract arbitrage positions in BROCCOLI714. He had established a spot position of approximately $200,000 at a cost of $0.016 in November 2025, and maintained a fee arbitrage position of $500,000 (spot long position hedging contract short position).
He had set two alerts in advance: a price increase of over 30% within 1,800 seconds, and an excessively large spread between spot and contract prices. This alert woke him up in the early morning. He checked his order book and found that the spot buy depth was unusually large (tens of millions of dollars), while the contract depth was extremely shallow, which he determined was abnormal.
Vida's operational process review: precise at every step
Vida's first step was to quickly close out his existing arbitrage positions, locking in approximately $300,000 in profit from the increased value of the spot market and avoiding the risk of price convergence. Next, he switched to directional trading: going long on contracts during price rallies, waiting for the circuit breaker to trigger before entering the market, and capturing further upward movement.
When he observed that unusual buying suddenly shifted to SOLUSDT spot (up about 5%), he judged that the abnormal account might have been partially restricted by Binance and unable to place orders on BROCCOLI714, which was a signal that the rally was about to end. He immediately canceled his order at the high point to escape the top, and then went short on the contract, making a profit of several hundred thousand US dollars when the price crashed.
Why wasn't Vida sanctioned by the platform? Vida's explanation
Vida emphasized that this profit was not exclusive: hundreds of retail investors followed suit and reaped the benefits, many algorithmic strategies automatically profited from the price difference, and other market makers holding similar arbitrage positions also chose to close out their profits. The counterparties were extremely complex, making it difficult for Binance to target any single individual. He manually monitored the market throughout the process, using a custom trading program to place fixed orders of $80,000 per transaction, completing the operations based on his keen insight into the order book.
This incident not only allowed Vida to make a fortune on the first day of the new year, but also once again demonstrated the preparedness and decisiveness of a professional trader, while reminding investors of the extreme risks that can occur with smaller cryptocurrencies. The truth of the matter awaits the results of Binance's investigation; let's continue to observe.
