While most traders saw their portfolios bleed over the weekend, one crypto whale made more than $160 million by shorting the market just before it crashed.
The Whale Who Shorted the Market Crash is Back – and Betting Against Bitcoin Again
15 October 2025 - 18:20 CEST
By Giles Broom
Friday’s winnings
The trader began shorting Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) roughly 30 minutes before US president Donald Trump posted on Truth Social threatening 100% tariffs on Chinese imports, a move that reignited fears of a full-blown trade war between the world’s two largest economies.
The timing was remarkable. US equities closed on Friday 10 Oct down 2.7%, their steepest drop since April’s tariff dispute, while the crypto market plunged 9.3%, its sharpest single-day fall since March.
According to onchain data from Hyperliquid, the trader opened large short positions in Bitcoin and Ether perpetual futures contracts shortly before the sell-off, earning around $89 million from Bitcoin and $72 million from ETH, more than $160 million in total.
‘Lucky whale or insider?' crypto commentator Ash Crypto wrote on X. MLM, (@mlmabc), who tracks onchain trading flows, said, ‘And this was just publicly on Hyperliquid - imagine what he did on CEXs or elsewhere. I’m pretty sure this guy played a huge role in what happened today.’
Back at it
The very same wallet that executed those trades has since opened new short positions, valued at $491 million as of Tuesday 8:45 UTC. The position, leveraged at 10x, was already up over $15 million by mid-morning.
The latest round of short orders began on Sunday evening and continued through Monday and early Tuesday, mirroring the setup that preceded last week’s crash.
Coincidence or calculation?
The scale and precision of the trader’s moves have sparked debate across the crypto community. Onchain analysts note that a small number of sophisticated, high-frequency whales are increasingly exploiting volatility triggered by political and macroeconomic headlines.
Hyperliquid, the decentralized perpetuals exchange where the trade occurred, has seen record activity in recent weeks. Its transparency makes it easier to track large positions, but also exposes just how much influence a single trader can wield during thinly traded periods.
As of Tuesday morning, the whale’s latest short remained open. Whether this is sharp instinct, algorithmic foresight or something more questionable, it underscores how, even in a maturing market, a single well-timed player can still set off waves that ripple through the entire crypto market.
Whether by luck or design, the whale’s second act has already put traders on alert, and the market on edge.
