What wash trading is
Wash trading is buying and selling the same contract on both sides of a trade, so ownership never changes. The trade prints and counts as volume, but nothing changed hands.
The purpose is usually to manufacture something traders read: volume that suggests interest, a price that suggests agreement, or activity that qualifies for a reward program. It is prohibited on regulated venues and it is a recognized manipulation pattern everywhere else.
Why on-chain markets make wash trading visible
On a public chain, funding is traceable. Wallets that trade almost exclusively against each other and were funded from a shared source form a visible pattern, and reading it takes no special access. At a traditional venue the same activity stays internal.
Detection is still probabilistic. Related wallets can have innocent explanations, and unrelated traders can produce similar patterns by coincidence. The honest output is a statistical flag with the evidence attached, not an accusation.
Where 0xinsider flags wash trading
The unusual-trading guide covers the flag classes and what each one is and is not evidence of. The suspicious-trade feed lists each flagged trade with its wallet, market, and time, so you can check it yourself; 0xinsider does not label any trader a manipulator.
