A massive, highly leveraged Bitcoin short position has emerged on a cryptocurrency exchange hours before former U.S. President Donald Trump is set to make a potentially market-moving announcement, sparking intense speculation among traders about insider information.
The aggressive bearish bet, involving 40x leverage and a $3 million deposit in USD Coin (USDC) on the Hyperliquid platform, was highlighted by veteran Bitcoin trader Kyle Chassé on social media. This activity comes as the cryptocurrency market anticipates a Thursday afternoon speech from Trump, rumored to focus on new tariffs against China.
INTERESTING!!!
So the whale shorts with 40x leverage.
We see quite a big liquidation cluster just above $106k.
Suspicious?? pic.twitter.com/8NG9A8wIHY— Kyle Chassé / DD🐸 (@kyle_chasse) October 10, 2024
“INTERESTING!!! So the whale shorts with 40x leverage. We see quite a big liquidation cluster just above $106k. Suspicious??” Chassé wrote on X, calling the operation “insane.”
This high-stakes short position contrasts sharply with the actions of another prominent, unnamed trader known as “0xc2a3.” This trader, noted for a 100% win rate and over $12 million in profits, closed a Bitcoin short position on Wednesday for an $826,000 gain. They subsequently opened a long position with 4x leverage.
Smart trader 0xc2a3, with a 100% win rate and over $12M total profit, is currently 4x long on #BTC.
He placed limit orders in the $108,700–$109,100 range, with his position now reaching 716 #BTC ($78M).https://t.co/XlNjLZy6sj pic.twitter.com/U0WTsRcpqw— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) October 10, 2024
According to on-chain analyst Lookonchain, “0xc2a3” has placed limit orders for Bitcoin in the $108,700 to $109,100 range. The trader’s current long position encompasses 716 Bitcoins, valued at approximately $78 million.
President Trump is expected to deliver his announcement from the White House at 3 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on Thursday. His past public statements have frequently coincided with significant market volatility.
Hypotheses of “insider betting” have circulated in the cryptocurrency community, particularly in October. This follows an instance where an unknown trader opened Bitcoin short positions hours before a previous Trump announcement that threatened 100% tariffs on Chinese imports.
That earlier threat triggered significant market chaos two weeks ago. The cryptocurrency market experienced its largest historical liquidation event, exceeding $19 billion in 24 hours. Bitcoin plummeted below $105,000, and the total market capitalization lost $500 billion.
As of this report, Bitcoin was trading around $109,608, marking a 1.2% gain over the last 24 hours. However, it registers a weekly loss and remains nearly 13% below its all-time high of $126,080, reached on October 6.
Bitcoin faced resistance at the $110,000 level earlier on Thursday, leading to long liquidations. CoinGlass data indicates a substantial cluster of potential liquidations just above $106,000, a level that could attract price movement.
Analysts express concern over low trading volume in the current range. They warn that a sustained drop below $107,000 could lead to rapid declines, as this level represents key diagonal support on the weekly chart stretching back over 18 months.
Further indications of defensive positioning come from Glassnode data. This data shows concentrated sales in Bitcoin options markets in the $109,000 to $115,000 range.
Investors are closely watching Trump’s impending announcement, which has the potential to introduce additional volatility into an already tense market.