Tldr
- The crypto whale made more than $160 million in profit by selling Bitcoin and Ethereum on Hyperliquid ahead of Trump's announcement of 100% tariffs on China.
- The trader closed all short positions on ETH for a profit of $72.33 million and is still short $92.84 million worth of BTC with 5.38x leverage.
- Trump announced a 100 percent tariff on China effective November 1 due to China's “aggressive stance” on trade.
- The cryptocurrency market lost $17 billion on leveraged positions within four hours of the tariffs being announced.
- Bitcoin fell 7.5% to $112,505.92 and Ethereum fell 12.5% to $3,837.57 in 24 hours.
One crypto trader turned market chaos into huge profits. Keith made more than $160 million from short positions Bitcoin and Ethereum shortly before President Trump announced a 100% tariff on China.
The trader executed his positions on the decentralized crypto exchange Hyperliquid. Online analytics account @mlmabc shared details about X.
In case you didn't know, the BTC whale closed 90% of his short positions on BTC and completely covered his short positions on ETH, making a profit of about $190-200 million in just one day on Hyperliquid.
The crazy thing is that he shorted 9 more figs across BTC and ETH minutes before the cascade happened. And this… pic.twitter.com/QhmUpesG0j
— MLM (@mlmabc) October 10, 2025
The timing of these deals has raised questions. The positions were taken shortly before the announcement of the tariffs sent cryptocurrency markets tumbling.
Bitcoin Short Position Details
The whale's short position in Bitcoin remains partially open. They currently have $92.84 million worth of open positions with 5.38x leverage.
In 24 hours, short selling BTC generated more than $90 million in profit. The trader opened these positions on the eve of a price decline.
Bitcoin fell 7.5% to $112,505.92 following the tariff news. Keith appears to have predicted this market move.
Ethereum trading is closed
trader Ethereum the strategy was different. They closed all short positions in ETH after the price fell.
ETH shorts made a profit of $72.33 million in 24 hours. These positions were also opened before the tariffs were announced.
During the same period, Ethereum fell 12.5% to $3,837.57. The trader recorded the entire downward movement.
@mlmabc suggested that the whale could trade on other platforms. “This was public on Hyperliquid, imagine what he did on CEX or somewhere else,” they wrote.
The analyst believes that it was this trader who played a major role in the market decline. However, this connection remains speculative.
Impact on the market
The broader cryptocurrency market suffered heavy losses. More than $17 billion in borrowed positions were liquidated within four hours.
The total cryptocurrency market capitalization fell by more than 10% in 24 hours. It fell to $3.73 trillion.
President Trump made his tariff announcement on October 10th. He said the US would impose 100% tariffs on China starting on or before November 1st.
Trump cited China's “aggressive stance” on trade as the reason. The tariff represents a major escalation in trade tensions between the two countries.
Crypto whale trades on Hyperliquid are publicly visible due to the transparency of the platform. Total profits exceeded $160 million across both Bitcoin and Ethereum positions combined.
