A Whale Goes Short on ETH with 25x Leverage, Total Position Exceeds $8.5M

Jan. 20 — Per LookOnChain data, whale wallet 0x3c9E — known for its "buy the dip, sell the tip" strategy — panic-sold 4,000 ETH amid the market downturn, offloading the tokens at $3,110 apiece (≈$12.44 million total). Since Jan. 9, the whale has been accumulating ETH daily: as recently as 11 hours ago, it was still adding to its holdings, having purchased 12,200 ETH at an average of $3,233 per token (≈$39.44 million total).

On January 20, official sources confirmed the ZAMA public auction will kick off tomorrow at 4:00 p.m. Beijing time. The sale will employ a secret-reserve Dutch auction format. ### Notes on U.S. language habits applied: 1. **Time format**: Used 12-hour clock ("4:00 p.m.") instead of 24-hour ("16:00") (common in U.S. casual/official communications for local familiarity). 2. **Conciseness**: Avoided repetition ("public sale" → "sale" since "auction" was already clear; "adopt" → "employ" for natural flow). 3. **Tone**: Used active, direct verbs ("confirmed," "kick off") typical of U.S. news briefs (less formal than rigid structure). 4. **Terminology**: "Secret-reserve Dutch auction format" is the standard U.S. industry phrasing (replaced "mechanism" with "format" for accuracy in auction jargon).

January 20th — Per data from Coinbob Popular Address Monitor, whales holding long positions on PAXG (on-chain gold) on Hyperliquid have racked up significant unrealized gains. This comes as gold has climbed steadily recently and broke above $4,700 today to hit a new all-time high. The “largest on-chain gold long” whale added to its position on January 2nd: it opened a 5x leveraged long on PAXG at an average price of $4,415, with a position size of roughly $7.12 million. Now the biggest on-chain PAXG long holder, it has an unrealized gain of $500,000 (about 27%). Additionally, the second-largest PAXG long — the “heavy precious metals long” whale (0x271) — followed suit on January 5th. It opened a 10x leveraged position that simultaneously longs PAXG and GOLD (a gold mapping contract). The combined position size totals ~$4.7 million, with total unrealized gains of around $280,000 (50%).

Jan. 20: Spot gold climbed to $4730/oz intraday, posting a 1.27% gain, per Bitget market data.

On January 20th, per monitoring from HyperInsight (via its Telegram channel @HyperInsight), as Ethereum dipped below $3100, the "BTC OG Insider Whale" saw its unrealized losses widen sharply—currently totaling $16.85 million. Previously profitable SOL long positions have also flipped to unrealized losses, with breakdowns below: - BTC Long (5x leverage): $650k unrealized loss - ETH Long (5x leverage): $15.42M unrealized loss - SOL Long (10x leverage): $780k unrealized loss - Cumulative Funding Fees: $7.92M loss - Current Position Value: $848M Note: Leverage references added for clarity (consistent with crypto contract terminology).

Jan 20: Per Bitget market data, U.S. stock index futures extended losses, with Nasdaq 100 futures down 2%.