Key takeaways:
- James Wynn’s 949 BTC long positions liquidated for $99.3M as BTC dipped below $105K.
- Wynn appears unfazed, keeping an open 40x leveraged long on BTC despite unrealized losses exceeding $4M.
- Speculation surrounds whether Wynn’s trades and the JELLY token incident reflect Hyperliquid’s marketing strategy to showcase its capacity to handle high-stake positions.
James Wynn, one of the most famous Hyperliquid whales, closed his Bitcoin (BTC) long position, resulting in a liquidation of 949 BTC ($99.3 million) as BTC’s price dipped below $105,000 according to on-chain investigator Lookonchain, during early market hours.
According to on-chain data from Hypurrscan, Wynn’s first position of 527.29 BTC, worth $55.3 million, was liquidated when Bitcoin hit $104,950. Wynn’s second position of 421.8 BTC, valued at $43.9 million, was closed as BTC sank to $104,150.
This string of liquidations followed a $9.96 million loss from another position of 94 BTC on May 29, which was liquidated at $106,330.
In reality, Wynn did not even lose close to $100 million, as his positions were leveraged. The transactions below detail his actual realized loss, which amounts to over $3.38 million.
Despite the losses, Wynn appears unfazed. He responded on X with a cryptic post featuring a screenshot from The Matrix where Neo stops bullets mid-air, perhaps hinting at a turnaround, which is evident with his next trade by again going long on BTC with 40x leverage.
According to Hypurrscan, Wynn still holds a 40x leveraged long Bitcoin position, originally opened when BTC was priced at $107,993.1. At the time of reporting, this position remains open but is sitting at an unrealized loss of over $4 million.
Meanwhile, several users on X speculate that James Wynn’s massive trades could be a marketing move by Hyperliquid to show their ability to handle billion-to-hundred-million-dollar positions. This comes amid questions about Hyperliquid’s role as a DEX, raised during the JELLY token controversy when they delisted the token and closed a trader’s position. A whale trader shorted $8M worth of JELLY on Hyperliquid, then pulled the margin, forcing the platform to cover it. They then bought JELLY heavily, spiking its price and leaving Hyperliquid with losses running into millions of dollars.
Conclusion
While James Wynn’s high-stakes moves have grabbed the spotlight, it’s a reminder for traders to be cautious and avoid blindly copying his strategies. His liquidations show just how risky high leverage can be. Whether his trades were part of Hyperliquid’s marketing or just market speculation is still up for debate. Either way, staying informed and trading carefully is always imperative.
