FTT Soars to 4-Month Peak After Cryptic SBF Tweet Ignites Market Frenzy
FTT rockets to highest level since May as Sam Bankman-Fried's mysterious social media post sends traders scrambling.
The Catalyst Behind the Surge
A single cryptic tweet from the former FTX CEO was enough to trigger double-digit percentage gains—proving once again that in crypto, narrative often outweighs fundamentals. The token surged past resistance levels that had held firm for months, catching short sellers off guard.
Market Reaction and Trading Volumes
Volume spiked 300% within hours of the tweet as algorithmic traders jumped on the momentum. The move echoes patterns seen during previous SBF-related market events, where ambiguous messaging created perfect conditions for volatile price action.
Just another day in digital assets—where a billionaire's keyboard can move markets faster than any Federal Reserve announcement. The age-old finance wisdom holds true: price discovery works great until someone with a large following decides to play meme lord.
What Fueled the Pump?
FTT – the native token of the now-defunct crypto exchange FTX – jumped by 25% on a 24-hour scale, with its price briefly soaring to a four-month high of $1.20. In the following hours, it retraced to the current $1.02.
Source: CoinGecko
The massive green candle is most likely associated with Sam Bankman-Fried (the former CEO of FTX), who broke his silence on X after a long period of inactivity.
Earlier today (September 24), he posted the simple “gm,” which is short for “good morning” and is widely used in the crypto community. Many members often start their day with that abbreviation to signal positivity, optimism, and interact with their followers.
Some were left baffled after SBF’s post since he is in prison serving a 25-year sentence for orchestrating one of the largest financial frauds in history. A few hours after the “gm” interaction, there was another announcement reading:
“No, SBF is not posting himself from prison. I’m a friend posting on his behalf.”
Earlier this year, SBF (or another person who manages his X account) triggered another major price pump for FTT by sharing a ten-part thread on layoffs and employment issues. His opening post was:
“I have a lot of sympathy for government employees: I, too, have not checked my email for the past few (hundred) days.”
He later said that firing people is “one of the hardest things to do in the world,” adding that it is often the company’s fault for hiring too many employees and then having “no idea what to do with them.”
It remained unclear whether that was an attempt by SBF to weigh in on the US government’s plans at the time to get rid of federal employees who are not productive at work.
Some also saw his interaction as an attempt to win a pardon from President Donald Trump, who shortly after stepping into the WHITE House granted amnesty to Ross Ulbricht (as promised).
What’s Going on With FTX?
The meltdown of the exchange towards the end of 2022 resulted in multi-billion-dollar losses for its creditors and sent shockwaves through the entire crypto industry. After insolvency, FTX’s management was taken over by restructuring professionals tasked with recovering assets for affected users, among other goals.
The FTX Recovery Trust has already distributed a substantial amount of funds and recently announced the next phase of the process that will begin on September 30. Initially, it will focus on smaller creditors and retail traders, recovering around 120% of their claims. It is worth noting that larger institutional clients with bigger claims will receive less generous payouts.
US customers will get an additional 40% of their claims, bringing their total recovery to 95%, while those who used FTX’s international arm are entitled to a total of 78%. General unsecured and digital asset loan claims are set to be repaid at a 24% rate, bringing overall recoveries up to 85%.
