TLDR
- A Hyperliquid trader who made over $150 million shorting crypto before Friday’s market crash has opened a new $160 million short position on Bitcoin
- The whale put $16 million into a 10x leveraged short bet with entry at $117,370 and liquidation price at $123,500
- The trader’s original shorts on BTC and ETH came minutes before Trump’s tariff announcement, raising questions about advance knowledge
- Some analysts suggest possible links to Garrett Jin, former CEO of defunct exchange BitForex, though others dispute this connection
- The new position is currently up over $4 million in unrealized profit as Bitcoin trades around $114,430
A cryptocurrency trader on Hyperliquid has opened a new leveraged short position worth over $160 million. This comes after the same trader reportedly made more than $150 million from short bets placed just before Friday’s crypto market crash.
The whale entered the new trade with $16 million at 10x leverage. The position targets Bitcoin at an entry price of $117,370. Bitcoin currently trades around $114,430, giving the trader over $4 million in unrealized profit.
The liquidation price sits at $123,500. This is below Bitcoin’s recent all-time high of $126,080. The trader would lose their position if Bitcoin rises to that level.
The whale first drew attention after Friday’s market events. President Trump announced 100% tariffs on Chinese imports that evening. The announcement sent cryptocurrency markets tumbling and caused record liquidations across exchanges.
Most traders held long positions on Bitcoin and Ether on Friday. They expected prices to rise. The Hyperliquid whale took the opposite bet.
The trader used $80 million for a Bitcoin short and $30 million for an Ether short. These positions generated nearly $158 million in combined seven-day profits according to HypurrScan data.
Timing raised eyebrows across the crypto community. The trader’s last short position came just one minute before Trump’s tariff announcement. Trump posted his message at 20:50 GMT, while the final short appeared at 20:49 GMT.
The HyperLiquid whale shorting BTC/ETH yesterday was placing shorts up till exactly 1 minute before Trump threatened tariffs against China.
The last short was placed at 20:49 GMT. Trump tweeted at 20:50 GMT.
What incredible "luck" pic.twitter.com/mIaExXGT62
— Coffeezilla (@coffeebreak_YT) October 11, 2025
YouTuber Coffeezilla pointed out this timing on social media. He questioned whether the trader had advance knowledge of the announcement. The precision of the timing fueled speculation about possible insider information.
Possible Connection to BitForex
Some blockchain analysts have suggested links to Garrett Jin. Jin co-founded the now-defunct exchange BitForex. The exchange went offline in February 2024 after $57 million disappeared from its hot wallets.
Blockchain analyst Eye found connections through wallet addresses. A wallet that used the same Binance deposit address as the whale sent 40,000 USDT to “ereignis.eth” two weeks before the shorts. That wallet has another name: “garrettjin.eth.”
This is not new information as @emmettgallic already revealed the transfer from the HL whale to Garrett Jin two days ago.
The only direct connection is a 40K USDT transfer and everything else in this post is unconfirmed theories.
It seems more likely to be a friend of Jin. pic.twitter.com/7f9Tzg9aU1
— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) October 12, 2025
Other analysts remain skeptical of this connection. Onchain analyst ZachXBT called the evidence weak. He noted only a 40,000 USDT transfer directly links the wallets.
ZachXBT suggested the whale might be a friend of Jin instead. He stated that other parts of the analysis were unconfirmed theories.
Polymarket Position
Jin reportedly holds a position on Polymarket betting on Trump pardoning former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao. This position was opened before the massive shorts appeared. The bet involves nearly $40,000.
Recent speculation about a potential pardon has pushed the bet up 39%. The position shows unrealized profits of $11,136.
