The trader Who Earned $192 million from Short Positions During the Crypto Crash is Doing it Again

The highly liquid trader, known for his timely and aggressive bets against the market, is once again attracting the attention of analysts and investors. He became famous after earning $192 million from short positions opened just minutes before Donald Trump’s tariff announcement, which triggered a sharp drop in major cryptocurrency prices and a wave of insider-trading theories.

Now the trader, known in the community as whale 0xb317, has opened a new very large short position on the Hyperliquid exchange, betting $163 million against Bitcoin (BTC) with 10x leverage. According to on-chain data, the position is already at a profit of around $3.5 million, but it will be liquidated if Bitcoin reaches $125,500.

What’s behind his new strategy

Market observers believe the trader’s actions reflect growing tension in the crypto space and a declining risk appetite, especially after a multi-week price rally driven by optimism over future interest rate cuts and institutional flows into ETF funds.

Analysts note that Bitcoin is entering a consolidation phase, where any attempt to break above $125,000 faces strong supply. This leads some speculators to bet on a short-term correction, particularly given heavily leveraged positions in the derivatives markets.

Some experts, however, warn that too aggressive shorting could trigger a “short squeeze” — a sudden price surge that forces traders to close their short positions at significant losses.

In simple terms – the whale is betting against the market in a moment of uncertainty, but the outcome of this battle will depend less on technical indicators and more on news and signals from the Federal Reserve and the White House.