A whale crypto trader has bet against Bitcoin with a $445 million short while simultaneously taking a bullish stance on the MELANIA token, according to Hyperliquid.
Meanwhile, a group of traders attempted to liquidate a major BTC short but failed, as observers noted.
Since last Tuesday, Bitcoin has found steady ground and rebounded to surpass its 200-day average of $84,000 this past weekend.
While many traders remain bullish, a crypto whale has taken the opposite stance by increasing a leveraged bearish bet on BTC worth millions on Hyperliquid while backing the MELANIA token.
Currently, the whale holds a short position in BTC perpetual futures valued at over $445 million, and they have an unrealized profit of $1.3 million.
Hyperliquid and Lookonchain reported that the whale executed the position with 40x leverage and set a liquidation level of $86,000.
On Sunday, social media users on X took notice of the significant Bitcoin short after pseudonymous trader CBB rallied bulls to coordinate an attempt to liquidate the whale.
“11 hours ago, @Cbb0fe publicly formed a team to hunt this whale who shorted $BTC with 40x leverage. Just one hour later, the team was in action, driving $BTC above $84,690 in a short period,” blockchain sleuth Lookonchain said on X.
“The whale was forced to deposit $5M USDC to increase margin and avoid liquidation. But the hunt ultimately failed,” Lookonchain added.
As of now, the crypto whale holds a 5x leveraged long bet on MELANIA perpetual futures, speculating on a price surge in the memecoin. Traders associate MELANIA with MKT World LLC, a Florida company owned by Melania Trump, wife of U.S. President Donald Trump.
Hyperliquid reacted to the situation on X, stating that traders can now see trading positions clearly on its platform, which is changing the game.
“When a whale shorts $450M+ BTC and wants a public audience, it’s only possible on Hyperliquid. When headlines say “Bitcoin Market on Edge,” they are equating “Hyperliquid” with the “market.” Anyone can photoshop a PNL screenshot. No one can question a Hyperliquid position, just like no one can question a Bitcoin balance. The decentralized future is here,” Hyperliquid said.
Last week, the platform gained media attention after a high-profile whale executed “liquidation arbitrage,” which depleted floating profits and contributed to a margin shortage.
This strategy triggered a wave of liquidations, forcing the decentralized exchange’s HLP vault to absorb the risk.
