Hyperliquid whale, James Wynn is back with new PEPE positions

James Wynn, the high-leverage crypto trader who has amassed losses in the hundreds of millions on Hyperliquid, is actively trading again after apparently deleting his X account last Sunday. According to blockchain analytics platform Lookonchain, Wynn placed a leveraged bet on the memecoin PEPE, using capital derived from a referral bonus.

The trader reportedly claimed 6,792.53 USDC in bonuses before opening a new 10x leveraged long position on PEPE via the decentralized derivatives exchange Hyperliquid.

James Wynn is back again!

After claiming a referral reward of 6,792.53 $USDC, he went long on $PEPE with 10x leverage.https://t.co/FX6sISVWOh pic.twitter.com/seMcAfAhWg

— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) July 15, 2025

Lookonchain shared two images showing Wynn’s activity under the wallet address 0x5078C2fBeA2b2aD61bc840Bc02335Fce56BeDb6. The leverage trader had allocated nearly his entire portfolio, valued at $11,840.99, to perpetual futures, with just $3.46 in spot assets and nothing staked.

Wynn bets on the PEPE market run

James Wynn made a concentrated bet on KPEPE-USD through five long entries starting from 18,153 to over 6 million units, opened within a 95-minute window. Entry prices were between $0.011999 and $0.012015, and trade values were from $217 to more than $72,000. 

Another screenshot from Lookonchain, timestamped later the same day, updated Wynn’s total portfolio value to $12,011.35, with his PEPE-related perpetual contract clocking $12,007.89. 

His long position on KPEPE-USD had grown to 851,765 tokens, at $0.01201. With the token trading at $0.00001221 at the time of capture, Wynn’s portfolio had counted an unrealized gain of $1,708.16. Yet, the leveraged trader faces a funding rate risk of -7.22% and a liquidation price of $0.00001137.

According to Coingecko updates, PEPE is trading at $0.00001213, 3.7% less than its value 24 hours ago. The token’s intraday lows came close to Wynn’s liquidation level, at $0.00001175.

Record losses did not keep Wynn out of markets for long 

James Wynn was the most talked about X account in May 2025 when his trading choices led to one of the heaviest collapses in the Hyperliquid trading community. He saw $100 million in long-Bitcoin positions wiped out when BTC’s price dropped below $105,000, equivalent to 949 BTC.

Shortly before the liquidation, Wynn had posted on X that he did not practice risk management and didn’t consider himself a professional. In a now-deleted message, he asserted: 

“I’m effectively gambling, and I stand to lose everything. I strongly advise people against what I’m doing.”

Wynn doubled down on his long bets days later with another $100 million bet on Bitcoin, while accusing market makers of targeting his trades to force liquidations. The trader turned to the crypto community for donations to keep his positions alive, and at least 24 addresses responded with funds. 

Not long after receiving community support, Wynn announced he had liquidated 240 BTC, worth approximately $25 million at the time, to improve the viability of his remaining positions.

Crypto market now in the red, pullback precedes CPI data release

Wynn’s return comes after Bitcoin hit a new all-time high of $122,000, then tanked by 4.3% in the last day, pulling its price down to around $117,060. Even though the largest coin by market cap has retained an 8% weekly gain, the retracement has caused most assets in the top 10 to trade in the red.

Total crypto market capitalization dropped by 3.33% to $3.68 trillion, while trading volume spiked 31% to $257 billion. In the past 24 hours alone, roughly $501 million worth of positions were liquidated. Longs accounted for $389 million of that total, after bullish speculators were caught off guard by the sudden correction.

Bitcoin led the liquidation tally with $181 million in positions erased, $142 million from longs and $39 million from shorts.

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