Analyzing the Crypto Exchange Pump Phenomenon
The “Coinbase Effect” has become a well-known phenomenon having positive effects on asset prices when new listings are announced. The economic rationale behind the effect is straightforward. When a cryptocurrency is listed on a popular exchange it immediately gains exposure to a new set of market participants. The effect has been thoroughly researched using Coinbase as the main exchange; however, in this report, we extend the scope to include five more exchanges in order to compare the listing effect across different trading venues.
Additionally, considering that Coinbase is the largest retail onramp to crypto, the research includes an event study using a sample of Coinbase listings from the Messari Enterprise API. Event analysis offers a better understanding of the statistical properties of how the listing event affects the token’s returns, accounting for the influence of the market environment.
Token Listing Effects
To tackle the first part of the analysis, we collected listing information using Messari’s intelligence database from six different centralized cryptocurrency exchanges:
- Coinbase (28 token listings)
- Binance (22 token listings)
- FTX (19 token listings)
Roberto is the Head of Data Science at Messari. Prior to his current role Roberto worked as a researcher focusing on DeFi and DAO treasury management. Before joining Messari Roberto spent 4 years at BlackRock working as a quantitative developer focusing on building high performance Python tooling for research.