TLDR
- Whale opened a short position of 5,400 BTC (worth ~$450M) with 40x leverage on Hyperliquid
- Group of traders attempted to liquidate the whale by driving BTC price up to $84,690
- Whale added $7.5M in collateral to avoid liquidation and has $4M in unrealized profit
- Same whale also holds a long position in MELANIA token with 5x leverage worth $390,000
- Hyperliquid highlighted how the platform has become synonymous with “the market” due to its transparency
A cryptocurrency whale has caught the attention of the crypto community by opening a massive short position on Bitcoin. The trader is betting against Bitcoin’s price while simultaneously going long on the MELANIA token on the Hyperliquid trading platform.
On March 16, an anonymous trader opened a short position of approximately 5,400 Bitcoin. At current prices, this position is worth around $450 million. The trader is using 40x leverage, making this an extremely risky bet.
The hunt is on…
Other traders quickly noticed this large position. A trader known as CBB on social media platform X detected the whale’s activity and called for a coordinated effort to liquidate the position.
“If you are willing to hunt this dude with size, drop a DM, setting up a team right now and already got good size,” CBB posted. The trader later specified they were only accepting participants who could contribute “7 figs size only.”
Within an hour of forming this team, the group managed to push Bitcoin’s price from $83,183 to over $84,690. This price movement put pressure on the whale’s short position.
The whale responded by depositing $5 million in USDC to increase their margin. This move helped them avoid liquidation of their position.
As of March 17 at 6:30 AM UTC, the whale closed two positions through Time-Weighted Average Price (TWAP). These positions totaled 208 Bitcoin at a price of $83,392, worth more than $18 million.
The whale’s current position stands at 5,167 BTC, valued at approximately $429 million. This short position is still at 40x leverage and has an unrealized profit of $4 million.
Long on MELANIA token
Interestingly, the same trader also holds a long position in MELANIA token. This position uses 5x leverage for 571,715 MELANIA tokens, valued at about $390,000.
MELANIA is a memecoin reportedly marketed by MKT World LLC. This company is registered in Florida and owned by Melania Trump, the wife of U.S. President Donald Trump.
Blockchain analytics service Lookonchain reported on the situation. “The whale was forced to deposit $5M USDC to increase margin and avoid liquidation. But the hunt ultimately failed,” they noted.
Hyperliquid, the trading platform where this drama unfolded, commented on the situation. “When a whale shorts $450M+ BTC and wants a public audience, it’s only possible on Hyperliquid,” the platform’s official account stated.
The platform emphasized how its transparency has changed trading. “When headlines say ‘Bitcoin Market on Edge,’ they are equating ‘Hyperliquid’ with the ‘market,'” the statement continued.
This is not the first time Hyperliquid has dealt with large positions. On March 12, another whale opened a long position with 50x leverage for 175,000 ETH, worth $340 million.
That position was eventually liquidated at $1,915. Hyperliquid had to absorb the position, resulting in a loss of more than $4 million for the platform.
Bitcoin has stabilized since last Tuesday. The price bounced back to its 200-day average above $84,000 over the weekend.
Despite this recovery, the whale continues to maintain their large short position. The position has a liquidation price of $86,000, according to data from Hyperliquid and Lookonchain.
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