How One Trader Made $160 Million Shorting Crypto Before Trump’s China Tariff Bombshell
TLDR
- Crypto Whale Made Over $160 Million in Profit by Shorting Bitcoin and Ethereum on Hyperliquid Ahead of Trump’s Announcement of All-Chinese Tariffs
- The trader closed all short ETH positions for a profit of $72.33 million and still holds $92.84 million in BTC shorts with 5.38x leverage.
- Trump announced a 100% tariff on China starting November 1 due to China’s “aggressive stance” on trade.
- The crypto market lost $17 billion in leveraged positions in the four hours after the tariffs were announced.
- Bitcoin fell 7.5% to $112,505.92 and Ethereum fell 12.5% to $3,837.57 in 24 hours.
A cryptocurrency trader turned market chaos into massive profit. A whale made over $160 million by shorting Bitcoin and Ethereum just before President Trump announced a 100% tariff on China.
The trader executed his positions on Hyperliquid, a decentralized crypto exchange. On-chain analytics account @mlmabc shared the details about X.
In case you didn’t know, the BTC whale closed 90% of its short BTC position and fully closed its short ETH position, making a profit of around $190-200 million in a single day on Hyperliquide.
The crazy thing is that he sold another 9 minutes of BTC and ETH before the stunt happened. And that… pic.twitter.com/QhmUpesG0j
– MLM (@mlmabc) October 10, 2025
The timing of these transactions has raised questions. The positions were opened just before the tariff announcement sent crypto markets tumbling.
Bitcoin Short Position Details
The whale’s short position on Bitcoin remains partially open. They currently hold $92.84 million in open positions with 5.38x leverage.
In 24 hours, BTC shorts generated over $90 million in profits. The trader opened these positions before the price drop.
Bitcoin fell 7.5% to $112,505.92 following the tariff announcement. The whale seems to have predicted this market movement.
Closed Ethereum Transactions
The trader’s Ethereum strategy was different. They closed all short positions on ETH after the price drop.
ETH shorts generated a profit of $72.33 million in 24 hours. These positions were also opened before the tariff announcement.
Ethereum fell 12.5% to $3,837.57 during the same period. The trader captured the entire downward movement.
@mlmabc suggested that the whale could have been traded on other platforms as well. “It was just publicly on Hyperliquide, imagine what he did on the CEX or elsewhere,” they wrote.
The analyst believes that this trader played a major role in the market decline. However, this link remains speculation.
Market impact
The broader crypto market suffered heavy losses. More than $17 billion in leveraged positions were liquidated in four hours.
The total crypto market cap fell by more than 10% in 24 hours. It fell to $3.73 trillion.
President Trump announced his tariffs on October 10. He said the United States would impose 100% tariffs on China starting on or before November 1.
Trump cited China’s “aggressive stance” on trade as the reason. This tariff represents a major escalation of trade tensions between the two countries.
The crypto whale’s transactions on Hyperliquide are publicly visible due to the transparency of the platform. Total profits exceeded $160 million for combined Bitcoin and Ethereum positions.
