Other whales join James Wynn to go long on BTC again

In the past 24 hours, more whale-sized positions were opened on Hyperliquid, going long on BTC with significant leverage. One of the wallets has been linked to risky trader James Wynn. 

Whales are floating back to Hyperliquid, opening new long positions. In the past 24 hours, several wallets longed Bitcoin (BTC) as the leading coin showed signs of momentum and the potential to rally to a new all-time high. 

BTC rallied on Wednesday, easily trading above $109,500. The crypto fear and greed index points to renewed increasing greed. However, most traders are hovering on the threshold between short and long positions.

The Hyperliquid whales are showing signs of conviction, with up to 20X to 40X leverage in some cases. 

The most significant new whale deposited $29.85M in USDC over the past couple of days, with another $10M added in the past few hours. The whale is currently holding a single position with 20X leverage and a liquidation price of $103,710.

This whale’s position remains anonymous, though it has gained the attention of James Wynn. He has not claimed ownership, but he has given the whale exposure, potentially opening the long position for counter-trading. Wynn’s followers also suggest that he may actually be the whale, despite claiming he lost all his reserves in the previous liquidations.

Wynn himself has previously called for other whales to take a similar risk, attempting to make large gains in a single trade going long on BTC.

For now, the market has not shown any deliberate efforts to liquidate the position. Two smaller whales closed their BTC positions, then went on to long HYPE, the native token of Hyperliquid. Their liquidation prices for HYPE are as low as $19 and $10.73.  Both the BTC and HYPE long whales bet on the same trend of exuberance, as Hyperliquid once again gained attention as the fastest way to tap crypto trends. 

James Wynn is back with a new wallet

James Wynn, the risky trader who was liquidated several times, is most probably back with a new wallet. Previously, Wynn mentioned he would be back on Hyperliquid, though trying to protect his position from liquidation. 

Hyperliquid traders have logged smaller profits and losses in the past months, though whales still make outsized bets. | Source: Hyperliquid

Wynn’s new wallet has a BTC position valued at more than $35M, with a liquidation price of $104,270. For now, the position has not been deliberately attacked, and has an unrealized profit of $1.3M. 

Wynn has been determined to hold the positions where possible and make even more outsized gains. Previously, he round-tripped a position with up to $100M in unrealized gains. 

This time around, other whales have surpassed Wynn with their larger positions, but there are few signs of deliberate counter-trading. 

In total, BTC open interest on Hyperliquid increased to $2.3B, though still below its peak of $4.48B. ETH and SOL open interests are also rising, with an uptick in general meme token and altcoin bets. One of the newly opened ETH positions is going short with 25X leverage, betting on a downward price move. 

Over time, Hyperliquid is also becoming less volatile, with fewer days of outsized gains, as well as a smaller amount of dramatic liquidations. 

Cryptopolitan Academy: Coming Soon - A New Way to Earn Passive Income with DeFi in 2025. Learn More