A major player on Hyperliquid has grabbed attention after initiating a short position worth approximately $450 million in Bitcoin. Efforts are underway to track down this trader and curb their activities.
Data from Hypurrscan reveals that on March 17 at 6:30 AM UTC, this whale closed two positions using Time-Weighted Average Price (TWAP) for a total of 208 BTC at a valuation of $83,392. The cumulative value of these transactions exceeds $18 million.
Earlier at 4:30 AM UTC, the elusive trader injected $7.5 million as collateral into their Bitcoin short position to avoid liquidation due to margin requirements on Hyperliquid. On-chain metrics indicate that this trader is facing a loss of nearly $1.1 million from both unrealized profit and loss (PNL).
Currently, the trader’s position amounts to 5,167 BTC, valued at roughly $429 million. This short position is under 40x leverage and has generated an unrealized profit of $4 million. Additionally, the trader holds a long position with 5x leverage for 571,715 MELANIA (MELANIA) worth around $390,000.
The whale initially launched this substantial Bitcoin short position on March 16. At that time, a crypto trader known as @Cbb0fe discovered this whale’s questionable dealings and called upon fellow traders to join a public pursuit to liquidate the whale’s position before it could inflict further damage on the market.
“If you’re interested in hunting this high-profile trader, send me a DM. I’m organizing a team now and we’ve already got decent backing,” said CBB in a post.
In another message, CBB urged traders to get in touch with them, stating they were only looking for those with “7-figure” contributions as the total funds for the team had already surpassed eight figures.
An hour after the team’s formation, they successfully raised Bitcoin’s market price from $83,183 to over $84,690. Consequently, the whale was compelled to deposit $5 million in USDC to shore up its margin and avert liquidation.
However, the hunt has yet to bear fruit, as the whale continues to dodge liquidation by bolstering its short position via TWAP.
The platform’s official account recently commented on the buzz surrounding the whale’s trading activities, indicating how the protocol has become a focal point of attention in the cryptocurrency community.
“When a whale shorts over $450M in BTC and wants the world to see, it can only happen on Hyperliquid,” the account stated.
Earlier this month, on March 12, another whale initiated a long position on Hyperliquid with 50x leverage for 175,000 ETH worth $340 million. Due to the significant liquidation risk, Hyperliquid had to absorb the position at $1,915, resulting in over $4 million in losses for the platform.