Cryptocurrency exchange Bitget discovers "abnormal trading activity" on the VOXEL/USDT perpetual futures contract

Cryptocurrency exchange Bitget discovered "abnormal trading activity" on the VOXEL/USDT perpetual futures contract on April 20, between 8:00 to 8:30 UST, and paused accounts

Cryptocurrency exchange Bitget discovered “abnormal trading activity” on the VOXEL/USDT perpetual futures contract on April 20, between 8:00 to 8:30 UST, and paused accounts that the exchange suspected of market manipulation.

According to an April 20 announcement from the exchange, Bitget will roll back the accounts suspected of market manipulation within 24 hours, clawing back gains made from the trades.

Bitget CEO Gracy Chen told Cointelegraph the trades were between individual market participants and not the platform itself. Chen also said that the losses are not platform-wide and that user funds remain safe.

The crypto exchange also plans to compensate users who suffered losses due to the alleged market manipulation and will announce a compensation plan soon, Chen confirmed to Cointelegraph. The Bitget CEO added:

The incident has called into question the obligations of exchanges under pressure from trading abnormalities and electronic trading bugs, with some traders comparing the Bitget incident to the Hyperliquid-Jelly exploit in March 2025.

Related: Hyperliquid JELLY ‘exploiter’ could be in $1M loss, says Arkham

Hyperliquid debacle all over again?

On March 26, a trader "exploited" the price of the Jelly-my-Jelly (JELLY) memecoin on the Hyperliquid exchange by hedging a long position against an equivalent short position.

The price of JELLY went up by over 400%, leading to the liquidation of the short positions. However, due to the size of the position, it was being sent through the Hyperliquidity Provider Vault (HLP).

In response to the trading activity, Hyperliquid delisted the JELLY perpetual contracts, which drew criticism from members of the crypto community.

Bitget CEO Gracy Chen was among the most vocal critics of Hyperliquid as she slammed the exchange for pulling the Jelly market and leading to the financial losses of users.

"The decision to close the JELLY market & force settlement of positions at a favorable price sets a dangerous precedent. Trust - not capital - is the foundation of any exchange," Chen said in a March 26 X post.