Bitcoin Whale Opens $235M Short Position After Pocketing $200M From Market Crash
A major Bitcoin whale, holding an estimated $11 billion in crypto assets, has opened a new $235 million leveraged short position against Bitcoin (BTC), signaling that large investors may still expect further downside pressure in the crypto markets. The move comes just a week after this same whale reportedly made $200 million in profits from shorting Bitcoin during the latest market crash, a story that continues to ripple through crypto news, blockchain technology, and crypto pur communities.
A massive bearish bet follows a record profit
According to blockchain analytics platforms Hypurrscan and Arkham Intelligence, the whale opened a 10x leveraged short on Monday when Bitcoin was trading around $111,190. The short position, a direct bet on Bitcoin’s decline will be liquidated if BTC surpasses $112,368, meaning the trader could lose their entire margin if prices advance even slightly higher.
At present, the position sits at a small unrealized loss of roughly $2.6 million. However, considering Bitcoin’s ongoing volatility and price struggling below key resistance levels, the trader could gain significantly if Bitcoin breaks lower. Notably, the same address had deposited $30 million in collateral on the perpetual futures platform Hyperliquid before executing the trade, a signal of high conviction behind the strategy.
This whale is far from a random participant. Earlier this month, they made headlines by perfectly timing a short position ahead of former President Donald Trump’s 100% tariff announcement on Chinese imports, which sent global markets and Bitcoin into frenzy. The crash saw Bitcoin’s value plummet from $122,000 to $104,000, creating one of the most significant price drops in crypto history. The swift decline triggered over $19 billion in crypto liquidations, and the whale reportedly profited $200 million, exiting at the market bottom.
Market implications: panic or precision?
The re-entry of this whale is fueling speculation about potential market manipulation or insider insight. The timing of the last successful short coinciding with the tariff news raised eyebrows among traders, though no evidence of insider trading has been confirmed. On-chain experts such as Willy Woo and Onchain Lens described the whale’s trading behavior as “structurally strategic,” noting that whale-led sell-offs were one of the main factors behind recent Bitcoin price stagnation in August and September.
The whale’s influence extends beyond Bitcoin as well; on-chain data shows that the investor rotated approximately $5 billion in BTC to Ethereum (ETH) two months ago briefly surpassing the total ETH holdings of Sharplink, a major corporate blockchain treasury. The maneuver reflected a growing trend of whales diversifying from Bitcoin into multi-chain strategies especially assets linked to institutional staking and decentralized finance (DeFi) yield generation.
Unrealized losses mount for other whales
While this $11 billion whale continues to profit from market volatility, new entrants into the Bitcoin whale category are on the opposite side of the trade. Fresh data from CryptoQuant reveals that large Bitcoin holders collectively face $6.95 billion in unrealized losses, marking the worst deficit since October 2023. With Bitcoin now trading below its average cost basis of $113,000, roughly 45% of capital controlled by whale wallets is currently underwater.
This widespread loss accumulation highlights the volatility of the crypto market’s institutional phase. Despite periodic surges, many large-scale investors remain cautious due to macroeconomic uncertainty, the ongoing U.S. government shutdown, and lingering tariff tensions with China all key triggers behind the latest Bitcoin correction.
Analysts see reset, not collapse
Crypto analysts maintain that the recent pullback should be viewed as a healthy market correction, not the start of a full-blown bear market. After excessive leverage built up during Bitcoin’s rally to $122,000, the abrupt crash flushed out weak hands and high-risk traders. According to Glassnode’s Market Pulse, short-term supply held by speculative traders is now at its highest since early 2024, suggesting that opportunistic capital is once again dominating short-term price movement.
At the same time, long-term holders and companies in the blockchain technology ecosystem appear unfazed. Institutional inflows into major crypto ETFs remain steady, and corporations such as Galaxy Digital and BlackRock continue to expand blockchain-driven investment portfolios. This resilience underscores the maturation of the crypto market even as short-term volatility creates trading opportunities for deep-pocketed whales.
Conclusion
The $235 million leveraged short by the $11 billion Bitcoin whale reinforces lingering caution among large investors but it also demonstrates the crypto market’s depth and sophistication. As Bitcoin continues to hover between $108,000 and $112,000, traders around the world are watching closely to see whether this whale’s bearish bet pays off once again.
While whales trade with massive leverage and precision, the broader crypto pur community sees their moves as proof of Bitcoin’s expanding liquidity and complexity. For all the speculation and risk, this latest trading saga is yet another reminder of why blockchain technology remains the heartbeat of the modern digital economy.
