Private Front-Running

Action

Private front-running, within cryptocurrency and derivatives markets, represents a specific type of market manipulation where an entity leverages privileged information regarding pending transactions to profit by executing trades ahead of those transactions. This action typically involves observing a large order destined for an exchange or decentralized platform and then placing a similar order at a more favorable price before the original order is filled. The consequence is that the original trader experiences a degraded execution price, while the front-runner captures the difference, effectively exploiting informational asymmetry.