NANO (NANO)–In the midst of a small recovery for cryptocurrency, after shedding nearly 85 billion USD in market capitalization over the last week, NANO led the way with a 20% increase in price. Investors on Binance will have noticed, around 6am Eastern U.S. time, the price of NANO shot as high as 5172 satoshis before selling off to the 4400 satoshi range.

While Redditors were quick to pick up on the sudden pump in price, it has led to speculation over the reason for such a large purchase, all done through a market order (meaning the buyer was accepting whatever sell price was available to fill the order). As some users pointed out, the lack of liquidity in the market (i.e. not enough volume of coins being moved), could have led to an investor making such a large purchase impacting the price outright:

It’s unusual to see an investor, particularly one with enough capital to move the entire currency valuation 22% in a single trade, employ such a heavy-handed maneuver. The result has led to several speculative inquiries into what’s going on with NANO:

Whale Attempting to Bulk Up. NANO’s price has been under the pressure of whale-like behavior for several months, with a single seller dumping 20-60K worth of NANO on exchanges per day. Some have pointed out that the amount of NANO being sold is relatively small compared to total volume, and therefore should not have the dramatic price suppression the currency is experiencing as it reaches near-daily all time lows. However, the sheer size of NANO being held in the account (1.3 million coins at one point, down to about 500K as of writing), which equates to almost 1% of all circulating NANO, is enough to create price manipulation. The massive purchase that occurred this morning could be from a similar individual looking to manipulate the price of NANO by purchasing the currency at a 93% decrease in value from January’s all time high. If so, NANO could be in for several months longer of price manipulation, at least until buy volume rises above the price suppression of whales. Investor Buying at a Low. Again, it’s entirely possible that a single investor was looking to get into NANO at a 93% discount, with no intention of operating whale behavior or market manipulation. While whales operate by making massive buys when the currency sinks to its lowest point, thereby inspiring the market to reinvest in a project that has lost a massive amount of value through price suppression, a single individual who believes in the NANO project could have been attempting to lock in the price of 2.50 USD. Because the market order fills units at the next available sell rate, the investor inadvertently triggered a buying price much higher than the going rate at the time of 4200 satoshis–which is, again, suspicious of whale behavior. Insider For a Possible Exchange Listing. Several users have pointed out that such a large, and potentially careless order could have been the result of an insider looking to purchase NANO ahead of a new exchange listing (which would pump the price beyond this morning’s purchase). Bithumb has been targeted as a possible outlet, given the occurrence of similar pumping behavior ahead of new coin listings. However, any talk over a new exchange is pure speculation at this point, and should not be taken as an indication to buy ahead of an official announcement.

NANO has suffered one of the worst percentage losses in all of cryptocurrency, having been through the 195 million USD hack of BitGrail, and developer lawsuit that followed. While the currency has arguably been due for a pump after reaching a 93% decrease since January’s all time high, the price movement that occurred this morning could be indicative of greater manipulation ahead. The project boasts industry leading transaction speeds and a zero-fee model, but the investor base and community is still waiting on the coin’s value to reflect what the technology is offering. Look for NANO’s road to recovery to be one of the more interesting story lines in cryptocurrency over the second half of this year.