Bitcoin Defies Gravity While Trump Insider Bets $120M on Implosion - Market Meltdown Ahead?

Bitcoin continues showing remarkable resilience amid growing institutional adoption, yet a massive bearish bet from political circles raises eyebrows across crypto markets.

The $120 Million Short Gamble

While retail investors pile into spot Bitcoin ETFs and major corporations add BTC to their balance sheets, someone with Trump administration connections just placed one of the largest short positions in recent memory. The timing couldn't be more contradictory—or more typical of Wall Street's love for betting against Main Street's optimism.

Market Psychology at Crossroads

Traders face the ultimate confidence test: trust the fundamental adoption story or follow the smart money betting on collapse. The $120M wager against Bitcoin represents either brilliant contrarian insight or spectacular miscalculation—only volatility will tell.

Institutional adoption meets political skepticism in what's becoming crypto's version of hedge fund theater—because nothing says 'stable financial system' like billionaires gambling on digital gold while lecturing about fiscal responsibility.

The trader gained notoriety after opening over $1.1 billion in shorts against BTC and ETH just before President Trump announced 100% tariffs on Chinese imports, generating an estimated $160-200 million in profits as Bitcoin plunged from $122,000 to below $102,000.

Back then, blockchain tracking firm Lookonchain identified the wallet as belonging to a “” who held 86,000 BTC from 2011.

Multiple reports claim the trader opened shorts ranging from $120 million to $600 million across BTC, ETH, and SOL ahead of Trump’s 3 PM ET announcement.

The precise timing, just as during the tariff crash, fueled accusations of insider trading and market manipulation.

Bitcoin currently stands at around $112,000, despite the bearish market positioning.

However, the trader’s previous success closing 90% of shorts at exact market bottoms has crypto investors on high alert, with many questioning whether another crash is coming.

Original Whale Trade Generated $200M as Markets Collapsed

The October 11 trade established the whale’s reputation for prescient market timing.

Lookonchain data shows the trader deposited 80 million USDC into Hyperliquid starting October 9, followed by additional deposits totaling tens of millions throughout the week.

The whale’s positions included a 10x Leveraged short on 6,189, valued at $752.9 million, with a liquidation price of $130,810, and a 12x leveraged short on 81,203, worth $353.1 million, with a liquidation price of $4,589.

The trader doubled down on shorts just 30 minutes before Trump’s tariff announcement.

Satoshi-era whale shorted $1.1B in BTC and ETH 30 minutes before Trump's 100% tariff announcement, banking $190M-$200M as liquidations hit $20B across 1.66M traders.#Bitcoin #Whalehttps://t.co/seLnV54bX9

On-chain analyst @mlmabc reported the whale closed approximately 90% of Bitcoin shorts and completely exited ethereum positions at the bottom, pocketing between $190 million and $200 million in realized profits within a single day.

The market collapse triggered over 1.66 million liquidations in 24 hours, wiping out $19.33 billion in positions, according to data from CoinGlass.

However, Mlmabc argued that “the real number is likely much higher, somewhere in the $30B-$40B+ range.”

The whale’s identity traces back to the 2011 accumulation of 86,000 BTC. Records show that he sold 35,991 BTC, worth $4.43 billion, starting on August 20 to purchase 886,371 ETH, valued at $4.07 billion.

Fresh Bearish Bets Multiply as Other Whales Join Short Campaign

On October 14, the same trader opened a 3,440 BTC short position worth $392.67 million at $115,783.

Currently, the position is sitting on a $5.7 million unrealized profit, with a liquidation threshold of $128,030.

About $80 million in USDC was bridged into Hyperliquid to fund the position.

Other heavy hitters joined the bearish campaign.

Whale 0x9eec9 holds $98 million in shorts across DOGE, ETH, PEPE, XRP, and ASTER. Whale 0x9263 wagers $84 million against SOL and BTC.

A trader who pocketed $160M shorting bitcoin before the last crash is back with a $392M short, betting that the rebound won’t last and another drop is coming.

⁰#BTCShorts #CryptoOG https://t.co/rGk88v1Ruu

Meanwhile, earlier today, a dormant Bitcoin wallet transferred 2,000 BTC, worth approximately $222 million, into 51 new addresses.

The coins split across multiple wallets haven’t reached exchange addresses, suggesting custodial reshuffling rather than selling intent.

The whales move, and their precision has drawn criticism on the TRUMP rings.

The Trump family’s crypto empire has now generated approximately $1 billion in pre-tax gains over the past year from memecoins, stablecoins, and DeFi platforms, according to a Financial Times investigation.

The TRUMP and MELANIA coins generated around $427 million, while WLFI token sales fetched approximately $550 million.

Private investors poured billions into Trump-backed ventures, with Chinese entrepreneur Justin SUN investing $75 million in WLFI.

Abu Dhabi’s MGX reportedly provided $2 billion to Binance using a USD 1 stablecoin backed by U.S. Treasuries, which has raised $2.71 billion.

All of these have increased the family’s wealth and net worth.