Bitcoin whale stares down $90M liquidation on massive 1,400 BTC short position

Somewhere out there, an anonymous crypto trader is having a very bad week. A Bitcoin whale opened a massive leveraged short position on the Hyperliquid decentralized exchange, and rising BTC prices have pushed the trade dangerously close to a $90 million liquidation event. The trader initially shorted 1,600 BTC at 40x leverage, a position worth roughly $102.6 million in notional value. After Bitcoin surged past $65K, the whale was forced to cut 200 BTC from the position, locking in approximately $146K in realized losses. What remains is a 1,400 BTC short valued at around $90.54 million, with a liquidation price hovering near $65K. The anatomy of a high-stakes short gone sideways The whale funded the trade by depositing 2.44 million USDC into a wallet with no prior on-chain history, according to on-chain analytics tracking the address (0xff84dd888de8ac2ed9a44860dc44e57025d68f1d). The initial liquidation price sat at approximately $64,889. When Bitcoin blew past $65K, the trader had to act fast. They shed 200 BTC from the short, effectively narrowing the position to buy themselves a sliver of breathing room. The updated liquidation price now sits around $64,998 to $65,002. Why Hyperl...