🟢 PHASE 1: FROM ZERO TO PEAK (Mar 20 – May 23)
Started almost from $0, but James himself confirmed an initial capital of about $4 million.
Mostly traded on Hyperliquid using high leverage (5x – 40x).
Major wins included:
10x long $PEPE: unrealized profit of ~$23.8 million
10x long $TRUMP: realized profit ~$6.83 million
5x long #FARTCOIN: realized profit ~$4.48 million
40x long $BTC (position size $1.14 billion): unrealized profit ~$39 million
=> Total account value peaked at about $100 million around May 22–23.
=> James described it as: “Flipping $4M to $100M.”
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🔻 PHASE 2: 7 DAYS OF “HELL” (May 24 – May 30)
May 24: Increased BTC long position to $1.25 billion, incurred an unrealized loss of ~$13.4 million within hours.
May 25: Flipped to bearish with $1 billion BTC shorts, lost ~$15.87 million in 15 hours.
May 30: Liquidated 949 BTC (~$99.3 million) as BTC price fell below $105,000.
=> Total loss over 1 week: more than $99 million.
=> James confirmed his net account loss at about $17.5 million.
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🔁 PHASE 3: ANNOUNCED BREAK – THEN BACK IN 2 HOURS (June 2)
Morning June 2: James announced he’s taking a break from perpetual futures trading, thanked Hyperliquid, and said he’s returning to “the trenches” to build a community around $MOONPIG.
Sold all 126,116 $HYPE tokens at an average price of ~$32.72, netting about $4.13 million, approximately $1 million profit from the cost basis of ~$24.84.
Just 2 hours later: He opened a new 40x BTC long position:
Size: 944.93 BTC (~$99.6 million)
Entry price: $105,890.3
Liquidation price: $104,580
Unrealized loss at opening: ~$455,000
=> James continues trading with a high-risk position, no new liquidations yet.
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📌 KEY NUMBERS SUMMARY
Initial capital: ~$4 million
Peak account value: ~$100 million
Unrealized peak profit: +$83 million
Current net loss: ~$17.5 million
Largest liquidation: 949 BTC (~$99.3 million)
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🔮 CURRENT STATUS
James still holds a large BTC long position with significant risk, despite his brief “retirement” announcement.
The crypto community closely watches every move of what some call “the wildest trader of 2025.”
