Wash Trading

The practice of simultaneously buying and selling the same asset to create the illusion of high trading volume and market activity. In crypto, wash trading is prevalent on unregulated exchanges and NFT marketplaces, where entities trade with themselves using multiple wallets to inflate volume metrics, manipulate token rankings, or qualify for airdrops. Studies have estimated that a significant portion of reported crypto trading volume is wash trading, making it essential to verify unique buyer/seller counts and use analytics tools that filter for genuine activity.