A cryptocurrency trader who had grown their account from $125,000 to over $43 million nearly faced liquidation on Wednesday, losing $6.2 million as Ether briefly dropped toward $4,000.
The near-liquidation occurred on the decentralized exchange Hyperliquid during a market-wide correction, underscoring the extreme volatility that can catch even experienced traders off guard.
Just two days earlier, the trader had turned an initial $125,000 investment into more than $43 million at its peak, locking in nearly $7 million in profits on Monday, according to Cointelegraph.
“This legendary trader went long on $ETH again but was liquidated in the market crash, losing $6.22M,” blockchain data platform Lookonchain wrote in a Wednesday X post. “Now only $771K remains—four months of gains almost wiped out in just two days.”
The market downturn also affected other high-profile traders. Multimillionaire leverage trader James Wynn saw his long Ether position partially liquidated, leaving him with only $300,000 in ETH—a position that could be fully liquidated if Ether drops below $4,113, according to Lookonchain’s Tuesday X post.
On Wednesday, following the partial liquidation, Wynn stated that he was “all-in” with no stablecoins left to invest and warned that he would have to “drastically cut down” his living expenses if an altcoin season does not materialize.
Ether whales have rushed to sell as the market takes a dive
Some whales have panicked, offloading millions of dollars in ETH amid the current market downturn.
Three major wallets have sold a combined $147 million worth of Ether, including $77 million from wallet “0x1D8d,” $57 million from “0x5A8E,” and over $12 million from “0x3684,” according to Lookonchain.
Meanwhile, other traders are viewing the correction as a buying opportunity. On Wednesday, wallet “0x159”—a top 100 trader tracked by Nansen—purchased $3.4 million in Ether. In comparison, ETH whale “0x929” acquired $3.16 million, and wallet “0x5dc” bought $2.9 million, Nansen data shows.
The market downturn even prompted the wallet of the infamous Radiant Capital exploiter to purchase $16.6 million worth of Ether.
At the same time, cryptocurrency investors are closely watching U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s monetary policy speech at Jackson Hole on Friday, which Iliya Kalchev, research analyst at digital asset platform Nexo, called the week’s “defining moment.”
