“Nerves of Steel”: Trader Bets $1.1B on Bitcoin with 40x Leverage—Will It Pay Off?

A high-stakes gamble unfolds as an anonymous trader deploys extreme leverage to ride Bitcoin’s volatility. The $1.1 billion long position—amplified 40x—could yield historic gains... or catastrophic losses.

While some praise the move as "genius timing," skeptics point to the reckless optics. "This isn’t trading—it’s financial Russian roulette," quipped one Wall Street analyst, between sips of a $12 almond-milk latte.

All eyes now turn to BTC’s price action. Will this become legend or cautionary tale?

TLDR

• A trader on Hyperliquid DEX placed a $1.1B Bitcoin long position at 40x leverage
• The trade was made with a $28.4M margin and is up $36M in profit
• The position survived a $32M drawdown during price volatility
• The trader, who goes by “James Wynn” on X, has been using Hyperliquid for two months
• The liquidation price for the position sits at approximately $103,800

A crypto trader has made waves across the digital asset community by expanding a Bitcoin long position to $1.1 billion using 40x leverage on the decentralized exchange Hyperliquid. This trade marks what many believe to be the first position exceeding $1 billion on the platform.

The trader, who identifies as “James Wynn” on social media platform X, used a $28.4 million margin position across several trades to build the massive bitcoin bet. The average entry price for the position was around $108,065.

According to data from blockchain explorer Hypurrscan, the position is now up approximately $36 million in profit. The trade sits well above its liquidation price of $103,790, as Bitcoin has surpassed $110,000 and approached $112,000 in early trading on May 22.

Rollercoaster Ride Through Volatility

The billion-dollar position experienced dramatic swings during recent market volatility. On Wednesday, the trade survived a $32 million drawdown on paper as Bitcoin’s price fluctuated.

At one point, the position showed a daily gain of $17 million. However, those profits temporarily disappeared as Bitcoin retraced from its new all-time high, briefly leaving the trader with a paper loss of $15.6 million.

This multi-million dollar zigzag took place in less than two hours. Despite these wild swings, blockchain explorer HyperDash indicates the trader still maintained an all-time profit of $59 million across their activity on the decentralized exchange.

Ship it pic.twitter.com/QLs49Ujy4s

— James Wynn 🐳 (@JamesWynnReal) May 16, 2025

The trader appears to have started this position with a $400,000 bet around five days ago. They subsequently added funds multiple times to grow it to its current size.

According to crypto analyst Sigma^2 on X, this marks the “First position [on Hyperliquid] to exceed $1B.” The bold move has drawn reactions from the crypto community, with some calling the trader an “absolute mad man” while others admired their “nerves of steel.”

He did it fellas, first position ever to exceed 1B$ https://t.co/0qGxkLAoj8 pic.twitter.com/grvqnyEgaY

— sigma^2 (@SigmaSquared_) May 21, 2025

Data shows the whale began closing some Bitcoin long positions when the cryptocurrency was trading around $106,000 on May 20. This suggests they may be taking some profits while maintaining the core position.

HyperDash data reveals that “James Wynn” first engaged with Hyperliquid approximately two months ago. They initially deposited around $4.65 million worth of the stablecoin USDC onto the platform.

In their two months of trading on Hyperliquid, Wynn has completed 32 trades. These have included long positions on various cryptocurrencies including XRP, the OFFICIAL TRUMP token, Fartcoin, and Toncoin.

The trader’s social media profile describes them as a “high-risk leverage trader” and “memecoin maxi” who claims to have identified Pepe as a buy opportunity when its market cap was at just $600,000.

According to HyperDash, Wynn earned $4.8 million and $6.8 million trading the Solana-based meme coins Fartcoin and Official Trump earlier this month. Their biggest loss occurred less than two weeks ago, when they lost $912,000 on a Bitcoin trade.

Hyperliquid’s DEX operates on its own high-speed blockchain, built on the ethereum layer-2 network Arbitrum. User activity on the platform can become publicly visible, including massive bets that sometimes result in losses.