Whale 40x short on BTC: Market signals behind this $4.07 million bet

A whale today morning shorted 44.15 BTC with 40x leverage, with an average entry price of $92,359.7, totaling $4.07 million. According to the latest news, this address currently has a slight unrealized profit. This is not an isolated incident—related information shows that high-leverage operations are frequent in the market, and the selling pressure signals from US whales are also strengthening. Behind a single trade, it reflects the current market sentiment’s aggressiveness and hidden risks.

Whale’s High-Leverage Betting

Trade Details and Risk Assessment

The key data for this short position are as follows:

It’s worth noting that the current BTC price is only $38 below the entry price, and the whale has a slight unrealized profit. But the hidden risk here cannot be ignored: 40x leverage means very little room for liquidation.

How Big Is the Liquidation Risk

With 40x leverage, a mere 2.5% increase in BTC price can reach the liquidation price. Based on the current price of $92,321.51, if BTC rebounds to around $94,631, this short position faces the risk of forced liquidation.

The trading style of this address is inherently aggressive—according to the latest news, this address prefers using 5-40x leverage, mainly trading mainstream coins and large-cap altcoins. In other words, this is not a conservative strategy but a gambler’s bet.

Market Signal: Not Just a Whale’s Decision

Why Short BTC

The timing of this trade is noteworthy. According to related information, CryptoQuant analysts recently pointed out that the market has shown the strongest Coinbase Premium Gap (CPG) sell-off premium in recent times. This selling pressure does not originate from ETFs but from US whales operating outside the ETF system.

In other words, US whales are selling BTC. Against this background, a whale choosing to short with 40x leverage may be following the market’s bearish sentiment or based on a short-term correction judgment.

How Aggressive Is the Market

Related information shows that high-leverage operations are not isolated cases:

• A whale closed a 6,755 ETH short with a profit of $241,000, with a monthly profit of $520,000
• A whale re-opened a 25x ETH long after clearing multiple assets
• Multiple whales are engaging in high-leverage trades of 20-40x

This indicates that market participants’ risk appetite is high, with everyone amplifying gains (or losses) through leverage. When this sentiment spreads, market volatility will significantly increase.

Benchmark Observation: Will History Repeat?

My personal view is that the most dangerous aspect of such high-leverage shorts is not the trade itself but the market mentality it reflects. When whales start aggressively shorting, it often indicates two possibilities:

First, the market is indeed facing correction pressure, and whales are positioning early; second, market sentiment is overly pessimistic, and once a reverse movement triggers, high leverage can become a powder keg.

Looking at BTC’s recent trend, it has risen 1.14% in the past 7 days and 4.83% in the past 30 days, with an overall upward trend. In this context, shorting with 40x leverage is like going against the upward escalator—if you bet right, profits are substantial; if wrong, the costs are heavy.

Summary

This $4.07 million short position signals three key points:

First, US whales are exerting selling pressure on BTC, indicating short-term correction risks; second, market participants’ risk appetite is high, and high-leverage trading has become normal; third, although BTC is mid-term bullish, short-term volatility is fully priced in, and any sudden event could trigger chain reactions of liquidations.

For ordinary investors, this is not a signal to imitate whale shorting but a warning about the high-leverage trap. The market’s aggressiveness has reached a stage where caution is necessary.