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Popular Crypto ‘Analysts’ Deleting Shill Tweets Amid Market Dump
The cryptocurrency market is going through a turbulent period. Coins across the board have lost big chunks of value since all-time highs in April and early May, with bitcoin itself technically in a bear market (as of writing) after having dropped by 40% since hitting $64,804 on April 14.
Needless to say, much of the exuberance that characterized the beginning of the year has waned, with the Crypto Fear & Greed Index pointing at 22 out of 100, also known as ‘extreme fear.’ It’s in this context that a growing number of popular crypto traders, analysts and influencers have begun mass deleting tweets in which they’d previously shilled some altcoin that has since bombed.
Yes, a significant portion of analysts are burning the history books, attempting to remove all trace that they ever tried to encourage people to buy “shitcoins”. Fortunately, certain social media accounts such as CryptoDeleted are keeping records of their deleted tweets, helpfully reminding us to always do our own research before even thinking of acting on the recommendations of supposed experts.
Scott Melker Deletes 30+ Shill Tweets
Possibly the biggest culprit is Scott Melker, a crypto trader, newsletter writer and host of the Wolf Of All Streets Podcast. According to data from CryptoDeleted, he has deleted around 30 tweets in the past few days, as various eagle-eyed observers on Twitter have noted.
Source: Twitter
Basically, Melker has deleted potential evidence that he ever gave his followers bad advice.
For example, Poolz Finance (POOLZ) has declined by just over 80% since he tweeted about it on April 2, declaring that it “should be headed back to the highs at $45 and beyond.” To be fair, it did hit $50 on April 12 (before collapsing), although this rise was possibly caused by his recommendation, given that he has around 448,000 followers and POOLZ has a trading volume (as of writing) of only $884,000.
Likewise, APYSwap (APYS) is down by 54% since Melker tweeted about it on March 3. It seemingly rose after his tweet, from $1.21 to $1.90, but has collapsed to around $0.86 after rising as high as $3.37 in early April.
Basically, all of the small altcoins Melker recommended over the past few months are down spectacularly from all-time highs they recorded in and around March and April. While Melker has defended himself and denied that he is a “scammer”, his repeated plugging of small coins — some of which he’d explicitly acknowledged buying — raises the suspicion that he may have profited from offloading altcoins to a portion of his followers. After he potentially sold high for a profit, many of his followers may have been left holding the bag after the market headed south.
No Surprises Please
It’s worth underlining that Scott Melker isn’t the only trader/analyst/influencer who has been busy deleting shill tweets. He’s likely the most high-profile, but he certainly isn’t the only one.
Another popular Twitter account, @Tradermayne, has just over 170,000 followers and tweeted about Polkamon (PMON) seven times in March and April (he also deleted tweets about POLK, which has also fallen). He deleted all seven of his tweets about the altcoin on May 22, at which point PMON was worth about $6. It had been priced at $40 on April 1, when he posted possibly his most flattering tweet about it, a tweet which possibly helped it rise to an all-time high of $62 on April 2.
Similarly, “market analyst” @koreanjewcrypto deleted a tweet plugging Pika (PIKA) seven hours after posting it on May 12, after it tanked by 70% that same day.
There were also plenty of expressions of general euphoria that were soon deleted by their authors. @misnatoshi — a crypto influencer who boasts 50,000 followers — tweeted that she has “never been so bullish as now in 5 years of trading.” This was early on May 12, barely a few hours before Tesla announced it would no longer accept bitcoin, causing BTC to spiral from around $57,000 to $50,000 in less than a day. She eventually deleted the tweet on May 23, when it was more apparent that a slump was underway.
Source: CryptoDeleted
Tesla’s u-turn seemingly caught more than a few people by surprise. “Cypherpunk stockbroker” Bruce Fenton also posted a highly bullish tweet on May 12, declaring at 5:06pm, “Moon” and that’s all “there is to it.” This was deleted a few hours later, soon after the Tesla news first broke and bitcoin’s price responded accordingly.
You could argue that no one saw Tesla’s news coming. But while no one could probably have predicted the specific bombshell concerning Tesla, you’d have to be foolish to assume that crypto and/or bitcoin would never hit any more roadblocks.
Do Your Homework
This all leads to a recurring theme in crypto. In a sector defined not only by influencers and ‘shills,’ but also by FOMO and scams, it really pays to do your own research and make your own decisions.
Even if a prominent figure speaks glowingly about a coin, every trader needs to evaluate its fundamentals and market for themselves. There has to be a good reason why it’s likely to go up, with wider utility playing a big role in deciding whether something is a viable long-term investment. If a coin is desirable only because a crowd of people are buying it right now, you’re essentially gambling, making the unfounded assumption that other people will continue buying it for as long as you’re holding it
Such an assumption is a recipe for disaster. As the above examples indicate, small, illiquid altcoins are likely to fall much harder during corrections than bigger cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, ethereum and others. As such, they should be invested in only if you really believe they have a future, and if you have good reason to think that wider market conditions are favorable to newer coins growing sustainably in value.
If neither of these conditions can be sufficiently met, expect to lose more money than you earn.
