A crypto whale has taken a highly leveraged position on Bitcoin, betting that the price of the cryptocurrency will continue to fall. Using the decentralized exchange Hyperliquid, the whale has placed a short position worth approximately $521 million, with a staggering 40x leverage applied.
This means that if Bitcoin’s price rises just 1.75%, from its current price of $84,108 to $85,591, the whale’s entire position will be liquidated, potentially incurring massive losses. The whale entered this position after Bitcoin dropped roughly 23% from its all-time high of $108,786 in January.
This decline, caused in part by macroeconomic uncertainty linked to geopolitical factors and President Trump’s trade wars, presented an opportunity for the whale to profit from further declines. On Sunday, the whale first opened the short position when Bitcoin was priced at $83,485, and the market subsequently dipped to $82,466—putting the whale in a profitable position.
However, another trader, known as Cbb0fe, noticed the whale’s activity and launched a counterattack. Cbb0fe organized a group of crypto traders to deploy over $10 million in capital to push Bitcoin’s price higher, attempting to liquidate the whale’s position.
As Bitcoin’s price climbed to $84,298 within a few hours, Cbb0fe celebrated the progress, but acknowledged that the whale’s short would only be wiped out if the price rose further. Hyperliquid, the decentralized platform where the whale made their bet, allows leveraged trading up to 40x, amplifying both potential profits and risks.
The platform is designed to liquidate users’ positions if the market moves against them, which could lead to cascading losses. Despite the whale currently facing an unrealized loss of $630,000, this figure fluctuates rapidly due to Bitcoin’s volatile nature and the whale’s high-risk position.
The whale has previously caused significant losses for Hyperliquid, including a $4 million loss from a $285 million leveraged bet on Ethereum. This event led to Hyperliquid lowering its leverage limits for both Bitcoin and Ethereum.
