That's scenario is possible as well.
No offense to the OP, but it looks like very shady to me as well. Anyways, everyone here has his secret sauce in trading and it's all about timing. The OP said he work alone and doesn't joined any pump and dump group, so he must be able to investigate the coin and jump early before others could join the hype and then exit on time.
Possible but I think it is manipulated, the most coin that pumps and dumps end up with a shady project. I'm not pointing this token but as what I have observed on other projects that ended up like that. In that case, it is hard to enter which is the better timing maybe you may trap or maybe you get also high profit. So, at this point, those who want to join do your own research first and manage your own risk.