The 50X Hyperliquid whale is back with new leveraged long on Ethereum (ETH)

The well-known Hyperliquid whale, who shorted ETH at 50X is back with another highly leveraged position. This time, during the market crash, the whale set up a 20X long position. 

The Hyperliquid whale, who drained the DEX’s reserves with a risky 50X Ethereum (ETH) short position is back with another risky move. The whale previously built a short position with a peak notional value above $520M that even aggressive traders failed in a coordinated attack to liquidate the wallet. 

The same wallet is now back with a long position of above $70M in notional value. The 20X leverage is making a strong and risky bet that the ETH crash may be almost over. The whale called the local bottom closely, as the position had a liquidation price of $1,391.70 in its initial hours. The liquidation price may change as the whale chooses to retain or close the position. 

The whale made an entry at $1,459.01, betting that ETH will not sink much further under $1,500. The position was mostly in the green for the first hours of trading.

Hyperliquid whales bet on an ETH recovery

Soon after setting up the bet, the whale achieved over $2.4M in unrealized profit. For the first hours, the whale only had to pay around $1,746.49 in funding, but the amount may increase. Negative funding also signals ongoing bearish sentiment for ETH, as the token crashed to new lows and caused a series of long liquidations. 

The whale also kept adding to the position, expanding the collateral to $5.76M in stablecoins. The position remained under attack as the price of ETH remains highly volatile. Soon after the initial earnings, the whale kept holding, while unrealized profit sank to $1.1M. Initially, the whale opened the position with just 4.52M USDC, starting at $1,459 per ETH. 

ETH recovered to $1,480.65, remaining highly unpredictable. The token is still going through both centralized and decentralized liquidations. Both retail and whales may continue to capitulate, if the bounce from lows is not realized. 

The two possible scenarios for the whale is to walk away with nearly $1B if ETH rallies. The other scenario is that traders may take the opposite position and try to liquidate. 

A similar attempt to long ETH has turned into a loss for another whale. The wallet increased the collateral to $4.7M in stablecoin. 

The other whale’s position, however, was at a $3.9M unrealized loss. The whale retains a liquidation price of $1,076.6, slightly better protected on the downside. 

ETH showed its ability to bounce, as it sank to lows of 0.019 BTC. Later, the token recovered to 0.020, though still remaining near the lowest range. At this point, risky leveraged trading may produce significant gains for taking the right bet. 

For general traders, ETH leveraged positions diminished. Open interest fell to $8.11B after a series of long liquidations. Within an hour, the ETH market liquidated $118M in long positions as not all traders could pinpoint the ETH reversal. 

Hyperliquid aims to save its reputation

The new wave of ETH long positions arrives as Hyperliquid aims to defend its reputation as a reliable DEX. The exchange saw large-scale liquidations from the well-known 50X whale and other volatile assets like JELLY. 

Some even suggested that Hyperliquid may not survive the liquidations and stress tests. However, the platform proved it can recover. The losses affect mostly the risk-takers providing liquidity to vaults, which isolates the contagion when a large position is liquidated. 

Following the recent expansion of long ETH positions, HYPE briefly fell to a low of $9.59, before regaining its levels at $10.49.

Cryptopolitan Academy: Tired of market swings? Learn how DeFi can help you build steady passive income. Register Now