MON Falls 23% After Wintermute Denies Shorting; Founder Evgeny Gaevoy Says He’s Going Long
MON plunged about 23.3% to $0.02513 amid allegations that market-maker Wintermute shorted the token. Wintermute founder Evgeny Gaevoy publicly denied the shorting accusations and urged the community to avoid spreading unverified claims. In a follow-up exchange he also stated he holds a long position in MON. The sell-off coincided with heightened scrutiny of market-making activity in the Monad ecosystem and niche DeFi/cross-chain markets. Traders should monitor official disclosures from Wintermute and other ecosystem participants, as statements and media coverage have materially affected MON’s price and could continue to drive short-term volatility. Primary keywords: MON, Wintermute, Evgeny Gaevoy, shorting, market-making.
Bearish
The immediate market reaction—MON dropping ~23%—followed allegations that a major liquidity provider shorted the token. Even though Wintermute’s founder denied the claims and publicly stated a long position, the episode increases uncertainty around liquidity provisioning and market-making practices in this niche token market. For traders this implies heightened short-term volatility: sell-side pressure from panic or forced deleveraging can persist until clear, verifiable disclosures remove doubt. Historical parallels: tokens tied to alleged market-maker manipulation (or rumours of exchange/AMM/LP misbehavior) often see sharp intraday drops followed by choppy recovery once audits or official statements are delivered (examples include isolated incidents in small-cap DeFi tokens in 2020–2022). In the medium to long term the impact depends on whether credible evidence of improper shorting emerges and on Wintermute’s and Monad ecosystem participants’ transparency. If allegations remain unproven and liquidity providers reaffirm support, price may stabilize and recover; if confirmed, confidence and liquidity could be impaired, causing prolonged bearish pressure. Traders should (1) reduce position size or set tighter risk limits, (2) watch on-chain flows and CEX orderbooks for large sell orders or withdrawals, and (3) wait for verified disclosures before initiating new sizeable longs.