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A known crypto whale has opened a new short position worth $163 million on Bitcoin, following a $192 million profit on a short position last week. According to blockchain data of the decentralized derivatives exchange Hyperliquid, the wallet address 0xb317 opened the leveraged position late Sunday.
It involves 10x leverage of the position and an already realized profit of $3.5 million. Nonetheless, the trade is liquidated in case the Bitcoin price reaches $125,500. The return of the whale has caught the attention of analysts, who have noted that the timing of its re-entry into the market coincides with a period of market turbulence.
On-chain records indicate that the trader has consistently exited most of their positions before significant price action associated with US political announcements. This has led to a renewed questioning of whether market participants have access to privileged information before policy-related changes affecting cryptocurrencies.
This very trader was in the news last week after selling Bitcoin and Ethereum about 30 minutes before the announcement of new tariff actions by President Donald Trump. The relocation caused a severe crash in digital assets, resulting in massive liquidations, and the whale earned nearly $192 million in profit.
Analysts, such as popular on-chain tracker MLM, assert that the timing of the two trades might not be a coincidence. MLM stated that the trader was a vital contributor to the liquidation cascade, which wiped out several million-dollar accounts on Hyperliquid. More than 250 wallets allegedly lost their millionaire status in the event.
The accusations have sparked a discussion about insider trading in the unregulated cryptocurrency markets. Janis Kluge, a researcher at SWP Berlin, said that the episode showed the transparency gap in decentralized trading. He observed that blockchain records are publicly available, but real-time manipulation of the market cannot be readily established without the involvement of law enforcement.
Binance was also under pressure, with traders claiming that failed stop-loss orders and collateral depegging occurred at the time of the market crash. The trade rejected any technical malfunctions and blamed the issues on a display problem. It ensured that basic systems of spot, futures, and API trading were operational.
Binance has also announced that it will compensate its users who have suffered losses by providing them with more than $283 million in resources, including those affected by USDe, BNB, SOL, and WBETH. The trade has restored its stake in bringing about stability even in unstable markets. Bitcoin is trading at approximately $114,000, and investors are eager to see how the whale has moved and the next impact on market sentiment
