Trader opens $20.3M 40x BTC short on Hyperliquid

Wallet 0x128e deposited 499,900 USDC on Hyperliquid and opened a 40x leveraged short on 250 BTC, creating a $20.32 million notional position. The platform set the position’s liquidation price at $82,236 while bitcoin was trading near $81,000 at the time of the trade.

With that liquidation threshold, a roughly 1.5% rise in bitcoin would trigger forced liquidation and could wipe out the posted USDC collateral. Hyperliquid’s liquidation engine automatically closes positions that cross their liquidation prices to cover losses.

Hyperliquid is a decentralized exchange running on its own layer-1 blockchain, designed for perpetual futures trading. The platform offers on-chain settlement, high available leverage and does not require identity verification. By 2026 the platform had processed cumulative trading volume in the trillions.

The 40x short by 0x128e follows previous large leveraged positions on the same venue. In 2025 a 40x short on Hyperliquid neared $3.7 million in unrealized losses as bitcoin tested resistance levels. Separately, a separate trader opened a $121 million short at 10x leverage on the platform. A well-known trader was liquidated multiple times in a single week while running repeated 40x BTC shorts on Hyperliquid.

Because the liquidation price is close to current market levels, the $82,236 threshold is a point traders monitor when tracking order flow and funding rates. If bitcoin rises above that level, Hyperliquid will close the 0x128e position to cover losses.

High leverage combined with narrow liquidation thresholds has led to rapid account closures and large swings in individual accounts on the platform in past cases.