Vertex token has surged over 600% in the past week, marking a new yearly high in 2025, riding the momentum of the decentralized perpetual exchange token rally.
However, concerns are growing as analysts point to potential red flags, including signs of significant insider buying.
Why is the price of Apex Protocol (Apex) soaring?
For context, APEX is the native token of the Apex protocol, a multi-chain decentralized derivatives protocol. The token has been on the market for quite some time and reached an all-time high of $3.83 in May 2024.
We’ve had many ups and downs since then, but last week’s huge pump was especially noteworthy. On September 26th, Apex’s value increased by 262% from $0.53 to $1.92. The announcement of a collaboration between Vertex, Mantle, and Bybit triggered the pump.
The perp dex scene is heating up!
We’re in the kitchen with @mantle_official @benbybit and we have some big things on the menu. It’s time to cook. 👨🍳💥＃apex #mantle #perpdex
— Apex Protocol (@officialapexdex) September 26, 2025
By the end of the week, Apex reached $2.7, marking its highest price since late June 2024. This rally gained further traction after the Apex protocol launched a token buyback program.
“Starting next week, 50% of Apex Protocol’s daily revenue will be allocated to buy back Apex tokens from the open market, combined with $12,000,000 of committed $12,000,000.
Nevertheless, Altcoins underwent a correction. Beincrypto Markets data showed that Apex has dipped 24.67% in the past day. At the time of writing, it was trading at $1.74.
Vertex Protocol (Vertex) price performance. Source: Beincrypto Markets
Despite the drop, Apex’s explosive rally holds an appreciation of over 600% among the top trending coins and weekly top gainers at Coingecko.
Is the Apex rally sustainable or is it just market manipulation in disguise?
Meanwhile, price rallies are causing concern among some market watchers.
“Two days ago, I asked if Bybit is involved in Apex. Support was Nope. Today, Bybit CEO tweeted about EM, time for scam exits.
On-chain analyst Defi Tracer claimed that there are similarities between Apex and Aster, with both tokens following the same pattern of thin supply and hype-driven pumping.
He claimed that only about 4% of Aster’s supply was in circulation, with the rest concentrated in the wallets of the six founders, making it easier to manipulate.
Analysts suggested that Apex mirrored this setup, with Bybit CEO Ben Zhou announcing the Mantle – Apex collaboration, causing a jump in market cap from about $25 million to $300 million. According to him, “heavy insider Buys” played a role in facilitating the rally.
“Wallet: 0xB88F3BC2AD32D3D256E26347D1AD24332A18185D. Holds: -413K $apex = ~$1 million. This wallet was pushing the tokens up.
In addition to the buyback, Apex launched APE Season 1 with a pledge to distribute 69 million APE Points over 12 weeks.
“Your ape directly determines your share of future airdrops,” the team added.
Nevertheless, once again, market commentators expressed skepticism about the move.
“The announcement dump in this post looks like the Apex team is unloading the bag, so the $12 million buyback comes at a much lower price before the next scam pump,” the user wrote.
So, while Apex’s meteoric rise highlights how market catalysts can cause explosive rallies in crypto markets, concerns cast a shadow over the sustainability of these gains.
The post Apex Token Soars Over 600% as Analysts Rally Honesty appeared first on Beincrypto.
