The crypto market saw more than $17 billion in leveraged positions being wiped out over the last four hours. The development follows President Donald Trump announcing a 100% tariff on China.
However, there is at least one trader who is sitting on millions of dollars after shorting cryptocurrencies ahead of the shocking announcement.
A popular on-chain analytics account, @mlmabc, shared on X that a crypto trader closed leveraged positions in Bitcoin and Ethereum.
The whale possibly netted a profit in the range of $190 million-$200 million in just a day on Hyperliquid, the popular decentralized crypto exchange, as per the platform.
Related: Market reels after Trump's 100% China tariffs
Understanding BTC and ETH positions
Let's look at both positions in BTC and ETH.
The crypto whale opened short positions in BTC ahead of the price decline and is still sitting on a profit of more than $90 million within 24 hours.
They are still holding $92.84 million in open position with a leverage of 5.38 times.
As far as ETH is concerned, the trader opened short positions ahead of the price decline and has closed all of them. They netted $72.33 million in profit within the last 24 hours.
In total, this crypto whale made a profit of over $160 million in just a day by shorting positions ahead of the announcement.
@mlmabc remarked,
"And this was just publicly on Hyperliquid imagine what he did on CEXs or elsewhere. I'm pretty sure this guy played a huge role in what happened today."
Related: Massive liquidations hit Bitcoin, XRP after Trump's 100% China tariff
Trump's latest tariff escalation
On Oct. 10, President Trump announced that the U.S. will impose a 100% tariff on China beginning Nov. 1 or earlier. The decision is driven by China's "aggressive position" on trade, he said.
Bitcoin was exchanging hands at $112,505.92, down 7.5% in 24 hours. Ether was trading at $3,837.57, down 12.5%.
The total crypto market cap fell more than 10% in 24 hours to $3.73 trillion.
This story was originally reported by TheStreet on Oct 11, 2025, where it first appeared in the Business News section. Add TheStreet as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
