Massive Short Trade Reopens Bearish Bets
An $11 billion Bitcoin whale has reopened a major short position worth $235 million, adding fresh pressure to the crypto market as investors hedge against tariff concerns and the ongoing U.S. government shutdown. The leveraged bet, placed on Monday, suggests large holders are again positioning for potential downside after a brief price rebound.
Blockchain data from Hypurrscan shows the investor entered the trade when Bitcoin was at $111,190, using 10x leverage. The position is currently facing an unrealized loss of $2.6 million and would be liquidated if Bitcoin exceeds $112,368. The whale’s move follows a similar short last week that reportedly netted about $200 million during the August market crash.
Arkham Intelligence, which tracks large wallet movements, wrote on X that “the whale who made $200M shorting the Bitcoin crash to $100K has now moved $30M to Hyperliquid and is shorting AGAIN.” The address, labeled 0xb317, also shifted $540 million worth of Bitcoin to new wallets, including $220 million sent to Coinbase over the past week.
Investor Takeaway
Leverage Returns as Market Cools
The short position underlines how leverage is returning to Bitcoin markets after a volatile summer. In derivatives trading, leverage allows investors to open outsized positions using borrowed capital — magnifying both profits and losses. With Bitcoin hovering around $111,994 on Tuesday, leveraged traders remain on alert after the market’s recent 10% correction.
Whales — typically defined as wallets holding over 10,000 BTC — have been active sellers since mid-August. Analysts say liquidations of long positions during the August slide helped flush out excess leverage, but short-term traders continue to dominate flows as macro uncertainty persists. “Large-scale selling from previously dormant whales capped Bitcoin’s upside,” said early investor Willy Woo, citing historical accumulation data.
Whale’s Background and Onchain Moves
The whale first gained attention two months ago after rotating $5 billion in BTC to Ether, briefly surpassing corporate holder Sharplink in total ETH holdings. The wallet’s activity has since become a bellwether for institutional sentiment, with each major move tracked closely by onchain analysts. According to Cointelegraph reporting, the same entity profited from Bitcoin’s sharp fall below $100,000 last week — one of the largest single profitable trades in recent months.
On Monday, the trader again funneled tens of millions to Hyperliquid, a decentralized derivatives exchange that has grown popular among large holders seeking onchain leverage. The timing coincided with renewed weakness in equities and crypto as tariff uncertainty weighed on risk assets.
Investor Takeaway
Market Context: Losses Mount for New Whales
While some large traders are locking in profits, others are deep in the red. Data from CryptoQuant shows new Bitcoin whales now face $6.95 billion in unrealized losses after Bitcoin fell below $113,000. “Bitcoin is trading below its average cost basis of ~$113K, leaving it with $6.95B in unrealized losses, the largest since Oct 2023,” the firm said in a post on X. This group now holds roughly 45% of Bitcoin’s total Whale Realized Cap.
Even with losses mounting, analysts view the latest correction as a “healthy reset.” Glassnode reported that short-term holder supply has risen, indicating that speculative capital is once again controlling near-term flows. Analysts say the shift suggests the market is still recalibrating after months of leveraged positioning.
For now, Bitcoin continues to trade below its cost basis as investors assess whether institutional accumulation will resume or whether whales will keep hedging through perpetual shorts. The whale’s re-entry, combined with $540 million in wallet transfers, has added volatility at a time when liquidity is thin and sentiment fragile.
