Wintermute's Short Positions Spark Crypto Market Selloff
Crypto markets took a sharp downturn over the weekend after data revealed Wintermute, one of the largest market makers in the industry, held $146.19 million in short positions against just $13.85 million in longs on Hyperliquid. The firm's heavily short-biased position on the derivatives platform sent Bitcoin plummeting to $75,500 on Sunday, surrendering a chunk of its gains from its strongest weekly run in years.
Wintermute's positioning was flagged by analytics platform Onchain Lens late Saturday, showing the company held roughly $160 million in open positions on Hyperliquid, with $146.19 million on the short side against just $13.85 million in longs. The combined book was sitting on an unrealized loss of $3.66 million while earning $2.14 million in funding payments.
The market impact was swift, with Bitcoin dropping below $77,000 on Saturday and touching $75,500 Sunday morning before recovering to around $76,500. Ether fell 5% to under $2,400, while XRP lost 6.5% to below $1.50 after being rejected twice near $1.70.