MELANIA Trader’s Hyperliquid Comeback: Serial Liquidations Spark Market Frenzy
Hyperliquid's most infamous trader is back—and wreaking havoc. The MELANIA whale just racked up another streak of brutal liquidations, proving once again that high leverage is just a fancy way to donate to the liquidity pool.
### The Return of the MELANIA Whale
No one trades quite like the MELANIA address—aggressive, volatile, and always leaving carnage in its wake. After a brief hiatus, it’s back on Hyperliquid, turning leveraged positions into dust.
### Liquidation Spree or Strategic Play?
Some call it reckless. Others call it calculated. Either way, the market’s reacting—price swings follow every massive position this trader opens (and inevitably loses).
### The Cynic’s Take
Another day, another ‘master trader’ proving that crypto markets are just a casino with extra steps. At least the rest of us get front-row seats to the meltdown.
MELANIA has a track record
The same trader has returned multiple times with new wallets, causing havoc on Hyperliquid with some of the most destructive trades, especially linked to draining liquidity pools. @qwatio’s trading practice informed a subsequent deliberate manipulation of the JELLY token, again with the goal of draining the liquidity pool.
In the past few months, @qwatio used four known addresses. Three of the previous ones are inactive, with no new positions.
The latest known address is $436K underwater, based on its short positions for BTC and ETH. This time around, the positions had a notional value above $210M, with no clear signs of deliberate counter-trading.
The unrealized profit and loss may change, though the trader has shown readiness to keep the positions. On-chain data shows he posted $4.5M USDC collateral to extend his short positions and avoid liquidation.
The whale is now considered to be in gambling mode, after six liquidations in the past three days.
Hyperliquid becomes top crypto summer venue
The stories of high-profile whales added to Hyperliquid’s fame as the go-to chain for derivative trading. It often competes with some of the biggest centralized exchanges in terms of volumes and open interest. In June, Hyperliquid activity slowed down a bit, with open interest of $7.2B.
Hyperliquid remains a leader in 24-hour fees, surpassing Ethereum, solana and other top apps and networks. Based on Artemis data, Hyperliquid generated $2.1M in fees.
The perpetual futures DEX also carries $6.8B in 24-hour volumes, with over 500K daily active users. The market shows a mix of organic traffic and activity that aims to tap an eventual second airdrop of HYPE tokens, based on user activity.
Since its launch, Hyperliquid has allowed whales to withdraw over $81B, with over $46B in liquidated positions.
As of June 2025, Hyperliquid still carried over 60% of decentralized perpetual swaps traffic. The success of the platform inspired other attempts to copy its success. The perps DEX uses more than 64% of all USDC on Arbitrum for its liquidity purposes. The DEX drew in a total of $3.56B USDC, with around $2.91B remaining as available liquidity.
HYPE took a step back in June, after peaking above $45. HYPE retains open interest above $1.5B, of which $1.1B is on the Hyperliquid exchange. Currently, short positions make up about 38% of the open interest, on expectations of further correction from peak prices.
The native token currently trades around $37 and is closely watched for a rebound, based on recent whale activity. HYPE rallied after the inclusion of high-profile trades, which some consider deliberate attempts to draw attention to Hyperliquid.
Cryptopolitan Academy: Tired of market swings? Learn how DeFi can help you build steady passive income. Register Now
