TL;DR
- Bold Move: An anonymous trader has opened a massive $163 million short position on Bitcoin on the Hyperliquid platform.
- Successful Track Record: This same operator earned $192 million by shorting BTC just before the 2022 crypto market collapse.
- Insider Information Suspicions: The perfect timing of their previous bet has led to them being labeled as an “insider whale.”
The cryptocurrency market is on edge once again following a bold move. An anonymous trader is causing a stir again, with their identity traced to the wallet 0xb317 on the decentralized derivatives platform Hyperliquid.
This anonymous operator, who became famous for pocketing $192 million by anticipating and capitalizing on the 2022 crypto collapse, has launched a new and massive bearish Bitcoin bet valued at $163 million.
The position, which has 10x leverage, was opened on Sunday night and was already reporting profits of $3.5 million during Asian afternoon hours, with a liquidation level set at $125,500. This move comes as markets try to digest the “shock” caused by President Donald Trump’s recent announcement of 100% tariffs on Chinese imports.
“Insider Whale”?
This trader’s reputation is not insignificant. Previously, they captured the market’s attention by opening a massive short position just 30 minutes before Trump’s surprising announcement, which triggered a liquidation of over $19 billion in crypto market value—the largest single day of liquidations ever recorded. That perfectly timed bet resulted in a profit of nearly $200 million, sparking strong speculation that the operator might have had advance knowledge of the policy shift.
On-chain analysts and traders have begun to refer to this address as an “insider whale,” and some suggest that the size of their position could have even contributed to accelerating the market’s decline.
This bearish Bitcoin bet now creates a new point of tension, with the market watching closely to see if this enigmatic trader will once again be correct in predicting an imminent correction. Uncertainty looms over Bitcoin’s trajectory as the crypto community debates whether history will repeat itself or if the market will manage to recover.
