Kaiko flags possible front-running before Robinhood token listings

Kaiko said open interest, funding rates and wallet activity showed repeated pre-announcement positioning before several Robinhood token listings.

Open interest in perpetual futures markets and onchain trading patterns suggest some traders may have positioned ahead of Robinhood crypto listing announcements, according to a Monday report from analytics provider Kaiko.

One of the clearest examples was wallet address '0xa1E,' which Kaiko said opened a long position on Lighter (LIT) on decentralized exchange Hyperliquid at 11:05 am UTC on Jan. 15, about an hour before Robinhood announced the token’s listing at 12:12 pm The wallet closed the position at 1:00 pm, shortly after the announcement.

Kaiko said the same address later opened a short position on a HOOD-linked perpetual contract on April 28, hours before Robinhood reported first-quarter revenue that missed analyst expectations. The trader closed the short later that day after HOOD moved lower.

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