A trader on decentralized derivatives platform Hyperliquid used 50x leverage to open a $200 million long position on bitcoin (BTC) on Sunday, netting a gain of around $6.8 million after U.S. President Donald Trump spurred a market-wide rally by announcing the nation’s crypto reserve.
The trader used $4 million worth of collateral to place a trade that at one point was just a $50 swing away from being liquidated. The entry was at $85,908 with liquidation price of $84,752.
BTC instead rose by more than 11% from $85,000 to $97,255 after a reference to the reserve was made on social media platform Truth Social. However, the trader perhaps backed the wrong horse as ADA and XRP experienced gains of 47% and 18% respectively.
Trump caught many by surprise with his announcement due to the inclusion of XRP, SOL and ADA. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsely said that they thought the U.S. reserve would only include bitcoin, whilst those connected to Ripple and Cardano took victory laps on social media.
Some skeptical social media users have questioned whether the trader had insider knowledge of the reserve, although it’s unclear whether the position was a hedge or if the trader thought BTC had bottomed following correction from $109,000 to as low as $78,000 in the weeks since Trump’s inauguration.
The trader has now closed his long position, realizing around $6.8 million in profit.
