Key Highlights
- A major Hyperliquid whale continues to profit from bearish bets, showing how aggressive short strategies can still thrive in a shaky market.
- Market data reveals stronger momentum behind short positions, while long traders struggle with losses and rising funding costs.
- Whale activity and falling open interest both point to a more cautious market mood, as traders avoid heavy leverage during increasing price weakness.
A whale trader on Hyperliquid has gained $24 million in profit with a large Bitcoin short. Analytics platform Lookonchain identifies the trader 0x5D2F, who has maintained a short position on Bitcoin for more than six months.
The whale’s 1,232 BTC position, worth around $113 million, currently shows its only perpetual position and they have made more than $50 million in net profits on Hyperliquid.
The whale has also collected more than $9 million from funding fees. Data from HyperDash shows the account’s combined value at $13.1 million with leveraged exposure of roughly $113.6 million. The position is fully short, meaning the trader exclusively bets on falling prices with no long positions.
Onchain data further shows that the trader has placed take profit (TP) orders within the $75,000 to $79,000 range.
During the last 24 hours, volatility spiked and at one point, the losses climbed above $1.4 million. Gains appeared shortly around 21:00, then quickly reversed during early morning trading. The account’s margin usage currently sits at 43%, indicating high leverage. On the bright side, despite the short-term swings, this account has delivered more than 417%.
Market positioning and short dominance
According to Coinglass data, Hyperliquid Whale Tracker shows overall market positions totaling $5.29 billion. Of this, $2.81 billion is in shorts, slightly exceeding the $2.47 billion in longs. This allocation signals a market leaning toward bearish sentiment, with 53.19% of capital allocated to shorts.
However, margin backing is higher for longs at $306.79 million versus $282.77 million for shorts. This indicates traders maintain a more cautious approach to leveraged shorting despite heavier bets on price declines.
Short positions are clearly winning right now. Shorts have made $248 million, while longs are down $139 million. Funding fees also favor shorts, which earned $106.87 million, while longs paid $14.25 million. Overall, betting on Bitcoin falling is outperforming bets on it rising, thanks to both price moves and extra earnings from funding fees.
Whale activity and market pressure
CryptoQuant tracks how active big Bitcoin holders are on exchanges using the Whale Ratio. In early 2023, it ranged between 0.2 and 0.5, but during volatile periods in 2024, it sometimes spiked above 0.8.
Even though Bitcoin jumped from about $20,000 in 2023 to over $100,000 in late 2025, big holders haven’t been consistently active. When the chart was made, Bitcoin traded around $92,300, and the whale ratio was 0.37, showing only moderate activity from major holders.
Open interest decline signals caution
The price of Bitcoin has been declining on the four-hour chart with declining open interest, according to Santiment data. The pattern suggests that traders have been lowering their leveraged exposure as price action has become weaker.
Big drops in open interest usually happen when traders are forced to close positions to manage risk during volatile periods. The current sustained decline shows traders are more cautious and confidence in the market is weakening.
The Hyperliquid whale’s big profits show that betting on Bitcoin falling can pay off when markets are shaky. At the same time, only some whales are actively trading, and fewer traders are taking big risks. This means many are playing it safe. Keeping an eye on these trends can help spot potential price swings soon.
Also Read: Vitalik Warns Ethereum Is at Risk If BlackRock Dominates ETH ETF Market
