BTC whale turns bearish, dumping tokens as price slides under $108,000

BTC once again dipped under $108,000, pressured by liquidations and spot selling. A notorious bearish whale extended the recent sales, in addition to a short position on Hyperliquid. 

BTC dipped again under $108,000, briefly erasing the recovery to the $113,000 range. BTC is still fragile, pressured by spot selling and inviting short positions. 

The same whale that shorted the BTC and ETH market ahead of the October 11 crash is back again with a bearish position. 

During the recent market downturn, the whale sold another 5,252 BTC, sending the coins to Binance and Coinbase.

This BitcoinOG(1011short) is dumping $BTC!

Since the 1011 market crash, he has deposited 5,252 $BTC($587.88M) into #Binance, #Coinbase, and #Hyperliquid.

Meanwhile, his $BTC short position on #Hyperliquid has grown to 2,100 $BTC($227.8M).https://t.co/TinrTsxIXd pic.twitter.com/dSRmNUM7dE

— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) October 22, 2025

The whale is also hedging through Hyperliquid, with a sizeable short position. The OG whale shorted 2,100 BTC, as the position stayed open for the past day. The position extended its unrealized loss to $6.87M, currently with a liquidation price of $123,780. 

OG whale previously sparked corrections for BTC

In previous rounds of shorting BTC, the whale closed the shorts before they went into the red. 

The whale’s moves have preceded price drops for BTC. Previously, the whale sold 35,000 BTC to swap for ETH and deposit for staking. On October 7, the whale shorted 3,000 BTC, realizing up to $200M from the short positions. 

The whale’s identity has been tied to the ereignis.eth vanity address and the identity of Garrett Jin, founder of the now-failed Bitforex exchange. The whale has repeated a similar scenario several times, setting expectations for a bigger BTC drop. 

At the same time, the X account of Garrett Jin, @garrettbullish, has been silent since October 17. Previously, the whale tried to explain the trades by citing an anonymous client, who was bullish on BTC in the long term, but wanted to hedge through Hyperliquid trading. 

Despite the criticisms against Garrett Jin, his positions have not been attacked deliberately. Currently, the crypto market still lacks the energy to liquidate the short positions. Despite this, traders are still going long, expecting a BTC recovery. 

Few whales are liquid enough to hold large short positions without risking liquidation. Currently, the bearish whale is also receiving funding fees, instead of paying to hold the position. 

BTC whale seen as potential market manipulator

The large-scale whale’s actions are seen as a deliberate attempt at market manipulation. The whale has moved in during illiquid days on the market. 

The ability to sell significant amounts of BTC, combined with going short, was seen as a strategy to extract maximum value from the market. 

The whale’s latest moves coincided with overall BTC weakness, as the leading coin traded at $108,013. In the past, the whale’s actions have triggered additional panic, allowing the trader to fulfill the bearish strategy. 

After the latest downturn, the crypto fear and greed index fell further to 25 points, finally entering the “extreme fear” zone. Despite this, long positions still made up over 70% of open interest, as traders still allow for a sudden recovery.

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