The mysterious crypto trader who made $192 million shorting the crash is back for more
Remember that chaotic “Black Saturday” on October 11th, when the crypto market took a massive dive? Well, it turns out one particular trader made a killing from it – a staggering $192 million, to be precise – by placing short bets just minutes before the whole thing blew up. And now, this same incredibly well-timed speculator is back, opening even more bearish positions.
This individual, identified by their wallet address 0xb317 on the decentralized derivatives exchange Hyperliquid, has caught everyone’s attention. Their previous short positions, placed a mere 30 minutes before Donald Trump’s tariff announcement that sent markets into a tailspin, netted them an eye-watering $192 million. Talk about being in the right place at the right time… or is it something more?
Another bold bet
Just this past Sunday, the same “whale” trader decided to double down on their bearish outlook, opening a fresh $163 million leveraged perpetual contract to short Bitcoin. This new bet is a 10x leveraged position and is already showing a profit of about $3.5 million. However, it’s a risky play: if Bitcoin climbs to $125,500, this massive position would be liquidated.
“Insider whale” theories swirl
Naturally, the uncanny timing of this trader’s previous moves has the crypto community buzzing with theories. Many are labeling 0xb317 an “insider whale,” suggesting they must have had some kind of foreknowledge of the impending market-moving announcement. Some even speculate that this whale played a direct role in triggering the massive cascade of liquidations that weekend.
As one observer, “MLM,” put it, “The crazy part is that he shorted another nine figures worth of BTC and ETH minutes before the cascade happened… 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.” Indeed, the ripple effect was significant, with HyperTracker reporting that over 250 wallets lost their “millionaire” status on Hyperliquid alone since Friday’s crash.
This whole episode has reignited conversations about the nature of unregulated markets. Janis Kluge, a researcher from SWP Berlin, voiced a common concern, commenting, “Crypto people are realizing today what it means to have unregulated markets: Insider trading, corruption, crime, and zero accountability.”
Interestingly, not everyone is bearish. Another trader countered the whale’s move by opening a substantial $11 million Bitcoin long position with 40x leverage, showing the perennial split in market sentiment.
Binance denies playing a role
Amidst the market chaos and speculation about manipulation, major exchange Binance also found itself under scrutiny. There were whispers that its own systems had faltered, with rumors of failed stop-losses, mass liquidations, and tokens depegging or crashing to zero.
Binance, however, pushed back forcefully. They issued an update claiming there was no crash on their end, but rather a “display issue.” On Sunday, they released a statement acknowledging “speculation in the market regarding the causes of this event,” but insisted that their core futures and spot matching engines, along with API trading, “remained operational” throughout.
While Binance denied that the depegging of assets like USDE, BNSOL, and WBETH directly caused the market crash, they did offer around $283 million in compensation to traders who held these assets as collateral and were liquidated due to their temporary depeg.
In a sign that confidence in the exchange might be recovering, Binance’s native token, BNB, has seen a strong rebound, surging 14% in the past 24 hours to once again surpass $1,300. But the saga of the $192 million whale, and the questions their actions raise, continues to be a hot topic in the crypto world.
