‘Insider’ Whales, a Community Counterattack and Market Shenanigan

The crypto market is no stranger to drama, but the past 24 hours have taken things to a whole new level.

An unknown wallet, just being referred to as ‘the mystery whale’, set the crypto community on X.com alight with a huge, short trade on Bitcoin.

This isn’t this mystery whale’s first play at gigantic leveraged trades, but this is by far the most aggressive short position.

The suspicions online are that it’s an ‘insider’, with knowledge of things the Trump administration is going to announce relating to crypto and Bitcoin – but that is unsubstantiated rumour (for now).

What’s fascinating about this latest trade is the way in which it eventually flipped, but also how the Bitcoin community rallied together, to try and liquidate the short position.

Let the Battle Begin

First, the trades. Data from Hyperliquid shows this ‘Mystery Whale’ opened a jaw-dropping $380 million Bitcoin short at around $84,018, juiced up with 40x leverage.

That’s a $9.5 million margin bet that will get liquidated if Bitcoin ticks up to $86,593.07. The fact the liquidation price is so close to the entry price is where the rumours of an insider are coming into play – either that or this trader is certifiably insane.

Keen observers on X.com noted to the same wallet (or one suspiciously similar) went long with a $200 million position at 50x leverage, just before Trump’s March 2nd crypto reserve announcement.

That move netted a cool $6.8 million in a day, which started these ‘insider’ rumours. The timing did seem conveniently perfect…too perfect. Some even speculated that it was one of Trump’s sons that was making these trades.

This current position though comes as the Federal Reserve meets to discuss and decide on what to do with interest rates. Trump wants lower rates, and lower inflation, and he’s using tariffs to try and achieve that.

Meanwhile the Fed must deal with the potential of a deep recession if economic output drops off a cliff and growth heads south. To prevent that, then cutting rates seems like their best method of attack.

This makes the timing of this short trade even more fascinating. The expectation of a Fed cut you’d expect would push Bitcoin higher, and a threat to the massive position getting liquidated.

Which only further emphasises someone knows something to take a bet that large, that thin, on so much margin with a rate cut looming.

I guess we’ll see what happens on Wednesday (if the Bitcoin community hasn’t taken them out first) …or it’s flipped.

Flipping Short to Long

In the last 24 hours, X.com has lit up with groups trying to push Bitcoin’s price past $86,600 and liquidate this short.

After the short opened, the mere fact it existed pushed Bitcoin’s price down from around $84,000 to $82,000.

It’s a classic David-vs-Goliath play, retail traders and hodlers began banding together to stick it to the whale.

For now, it hasn’t worked. And Bitcoin’s hovering around $83,000-$84,000. If they succeed, it’s a $380 million fireworks show; if they fail, the whale laughs all the way to the bank.

But here’s where things get really wild…

The Whale decided to place a 1,414 Bitcoin long around 7pm Eastern Time. That order was too large, so it had to be broken down into two 707 Bitcoin long lots.[2]

In total that’s now $117.3 million long Bitcoin.

Then, the whale began to long Melania Coin, which pushed the Melania price higher in short term trading. But as I write this, I’m watching real time as the whale shorts Melania Coin (at roughly 1am ET).

This is the highest degree of market shenanigans, shorting Bitcoin leveraged 40x to the tune of $380 million. Hours later, rolling into a $117.3 million long position. Then placing a long Melania Coin trade, only to then flip it in the early hours to a short position[3] – maybe they’re trying to make a statement?

Maybe this is an insider. Or maybe it’s very well-funded, while completely operating on their own agenda. Either way, serious money is being pumped through crypto markets right now and the market is on its toes. The U.S. economy is delicately balanced, Trump is making moves, the Fed has big decisions to make, and Bitcoin sits right in the middle of it all.

This may become one of the biggest weeks in Bitcoin, if things align and the market rips higher. Keep a close eye on what we’ll be sending out this week as this market looks primed for a ‘blink and you’ll miss it’ leg higher – and you don’t want to be caught napping.

Trust in crypto,
Adam Atlantic

[1]https://x.com/Ashcryptoreal/status/1901314159435735218/photo/1

[2]https://app.hyperliquid.xyz/explorer/tx/0xe04576fe7acf55e94357041fb18c95020142000bc96fed30cf7e10154df78c30

[3]https://app.hyperliquid.xyz/explorer/tx/0x52afcbc78c9fdbb6c2de041fb56ead015f00f71a6c22491fa7e8a92fe1d2661d