MyTrade Founder Fined $10,000 Over Wash Trades in 60 Tokens

Regulators imposed a $10,000 fine on the founder of MyTrade after automated trading bots executed matched orders that wash-traded 60 cryptocurrency tokens, according to an enforcement notice.

The enforcement action says the automated programs placed coordinated buy-and-sell orders that did not change beneficial ownership. The orders were matched under common control and repeated to create the appearance of trading volume across dozens of tokens.

Wash trading describes transactions in which the same party is on both sides of a trade or uses affiliated accounts to trade with itself. The practice can produce misleading volume and price signals and is generally prohibited in regulated markets. Regulators and exchanges have increasingly examined similar patterns in digital-asset trading.

The notice states the trading bots generated repeated matched trades and artificial liquidity and trading histories for the affected tokens. Those patterns can inflate perceived market interest and influence price discovery for other market participants.

Market surveillance systems look for signatures of wash trading such as rapid matched trades, repeated self-crossing of orders, and concentrated volume among related accounts. Enforcement actions may result in fines, trading restrictions or disgorgement of profits; the monetary penalty in this case was $10,000.

The enforcement notice did not include a public statement from the MyTrade founder or the firm. The action was presented as part of ongoing regulatory attention to the use of automated trading systems in cryptocurrency markets.