In a surprising turn of events, a cryptocurrency whale executed a short Bitcoin trade worth 445 million USD on the Hyperliquid platform with 40x leverage, while betting on the price increase of the MELANIA token – a memecoin believed to be associated with Melania Trump.
This event quickly attracted the community's attention, and even a group of traders attempted to 'collaborate' to liquidate this giant short position, but ultimately failed.
What are whales betting on?
Data from #Hyperliquid and #Lookonchain shows that this whale has:
Opened a short position on Bitcoin worth 445 million USD with 40x leverage, predicting that BTC's price will drop.
Currently, there is an unrealized profit of 1.3 million USD from this position.
The liquidation price of the short order is set at 86,000 USD.
At the same time, this whale is also long on MELANIA with 5x leverage, expecting this memecoin's price to rise sharply. The MELANIA token is promoted by MKT World LLC, a Florida company believed to be owned by Melania Trump, wife of US President Donald Trump.
The community is trying to 'hunt whales' but fails.
When this giant short trade $BTC appeared, a trader nicknamed CBB called on the community on social media X to form a group to push the BTC price up, forcing this whale to be liquidated.
Within 11 hours after CBB's call, a group of traders joined the 'hunt' and caused the BTC price to rapidly rise, reaching 84,690 USD in a short time.
The whale was forced to deposit an additional 5 million USDC into the account to increase margin levels and avoid liquidation.
However, in the end, the group of traders failed, and the whale maintained the short position.
This event has sparked a wave of debate on social media about whether whales can control the market, as well as how retail traders can collaborate to 'take down' these giant positions.
Hyperliquid speaks out: 'This is proof of transparency'
Hyperliquid, the platform where these trades occur, issued a statement emphasizing the system's transparency:
'When a whale shorts over 450 million USD BTC and wants an audience in public, that can only happen on Hyperliquid... No one can edit fake profit snapshots, just as no one can question a position on Hyperliquid, just as no one can question a Bitcoin balance.'
This statement implies that Hyperliquid is redefining how trading works, with every position being transparent and immune to information manipulation.
What kind of 'drama' has Hyperliquid faced before?
Previously, Hyperliquid also caused a stir when another whale executed a 'liquidation arbitrage' strategy – exploiting floating profits to create a margin shortfall, leading to some positions being liquidated and the risk shifting to the exchange's insurance fund.
This indicates that complex trading strategies are being deployed on this platform, sometimes creating sharp fluctuations in the market.
How did the market react?
Bitcoin stabilized after the correction last Tuesday, bouncing back to the 200-day average, fluctuating above 84,000 USD over the weekend. However, this giant short position shows that there are still investors who believe that BTC's price will drop.
Meanwhile, the MELANIA token is attracting attention due to its connection to Melania Trump, raising the question of whether there is a media campaign pushing this memecoin's price up.
Conclusion: What will happen next?
The question is whether this whale predicted correctly or not?
If Bitcoin drops sharply, the whale will earn tens of millions of USD from the short position.
If BTC continues to rise, the whale may get liquidated, causing a large domino effect in the market.
⚠ Risk warning: High-leverage trading offers high profits but also comes with extremely high risks. Carefully consider before participating in significant fluctuations in the crypto market.
