The $11 billion Bitcoin investor is once again making waves by opening a $235 million short position as concerns grip the market regarding tariffs and a continuous government shutdown.
The investor, dubbed a “Bitcoin whale,” made a considerable amount from last week’s downturn in the cryptocurrency market. This latest move involves a ten-fold leveraged bet against Bitcoin (BTC), indicating a prediction of further declines in the value of Bitcoin.
The position was established on a Monday when Bitcoin was valued at approximately $111,190. Currently, he is experiencing an unrealized loss of $2.6 million on this position, which may be liquidated if Bitcoin’s price exceeds $112,368, according to information from Hypurrscan blockchain data.
Just a week prior, the same investor profited around $200 million from a similar position during the market crash.
In trading, leverage allows participants to open larger positions than their own capital permits, essentially borrowing funds to increase potential gains and risks.
Wallet ‘0xb317,’ short position. Source: Hypurrscan.io
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“The investor who accrued $200M from shorting Bitcoin when it hit $100K has now transferred $30M to Hyperliquid and is shorting again,” stated the blockchain data platform Arkham in a recent Twitter post.
Additionally, over the past week, the whale allocated $540 million worth of Bitcoin to new wallets, including $220 million to the Coinbase exchange’s wallets.
Source: Arkham
The $11 billion Bitcoin whale emerged two months ago and recently rotated around $5 billion in BTC to Ether (ETH), momentarily overtaking Sharplink as the top corporate holder of ETH, as reported on September 1.
Large trades from dormant Bitcoin whales heavily impacted Bitcoin’s price in August, as highlighted by analyst Willy Woo.
New Bitcoin whales incur $6.95 billion in unrealized losses post-market crash
In parallel, new Bitcoin whales are reportedly facing a combined unrealized loss numbering over $6.95 billion after Bitcoin dropped below the crucial $113,000 mark.
“Bitcoin currently trades below its average cost basis of roughly $113K, accumulating $6.95 billion in unrealized losses of the greatest scale since October 2023,” relayed the crypto analytics platform CryptoQuant in a recent Twitter entry, mentioning that this segment “holds around 45% of the total Whale Realized Cap."
Source: CryptoQuant
Despite decreasing investor sentiment, some analysts view Bitcoin’s correction to $104,000 as a necessary cleanse that eliminated excessive leverage, leading to a more cautious market approach. This week, there has been an increase in short-term Bitcoin holder supply, indicating that speculative capital is claiming larger market shares, noted blockchain analysis firm Glassnode in a Tuesday report.
