Huh, got through the whole article without the author referencing the origin of the term “bucket shop.” Nothing new under the sun when it comes to market manipulation. I like the idea of a whole new generation of crypto market manipulators rediscovering techniques that haven’t worked in eh real markets in 100 years.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bucket_shop_(stock_market)

The transaction goes "in the bucket" and is never executed. Because no trading of actual securities occurs, the customer is essentially betting against the bucket shop operator in a game based on abstract security prices.