A cryptocurrency trader who netted $1.8 million in profits with a highly leveraged Ether (ETH) position has now shifted focus to Chainlink (LINK), entering a multimillion-dollar position.
On March 14, the anonymous whale—referred to as “ETH 50x Big Guy” on social media—placed long positions in LINK worth approximately $31 million with 10x leverage across Hyperliquid and GMX, according to Lookonchain, a Web3 analytics service.
In addition to his leveraged bets, the trader also accumulated around $12 million worth of LINK in spot holdings.
However, in the hours that followed, he gradually reduced his LINK exposure, swapping portions of his holdings back into stablecoins, on-chain data shows.
Hyperliquid’s Liquidity Pool Tested Again
The latest move comes just two days after the same trader intentionally liquidated a $200 million ETH long position on Hyperliquid, causing its liquidity pool (HLP) to suffer a $4 million loss.
The event sparked debate over the risks associated with highly leveraged trading, with Hyperliquid confirming that the incident was not an exploit but rather a natural outcome of the platform’s mechanics under extreme conditions.
The trader walked away with $1.8 million in profits from the trade, contributing to his total earnings of nearly $17 million on Hyperliquid in the past month, according to Lookonchain.
Following the ETH liquidation event, Hyperliquid responded on March 13 by tightening collateral requirements for traders with open positions, aiming to prevent similar high-risk scenarios in the future.
Despite its challenges, Hyperliquid has quickly risen to dominate the perpetuals trading market.
According to a January report by asset manager VanEck, the exchange has captured 70% of market share, surpassing competitors GMX and dYdX.
The trader’s latest bet comes amid volatile price movements for Chainlink’s LINK token.
LINK rallied over 150% following Donald Trump’s U.S. election victory, but has since fallen from its December peak of nearly $30 to under $14 as of March 14, according to CoinGecko data.
Despite its price decline, Chainlink remains the leading decentralized oracle network, with a market capitalization of approximately $8.7 billion.
Hyperliquid Tightens Trading Rules After Brutal $4M Loss
Hyperliquid has tightened trading rules after its liquidity pool took a $4 million hit during the whale liquidation event.
While the news initially sparked a 15% crash, the hours since have seen the HYPE price surge 16% to a $14 peak—the first relief from its month-long free fall.
Hyperliquid remains the leading perpetual futures exchange, yet retail liquidity has thinned under heavy market FUD.
Starting March 15, the platform will require traders to maintain a 20% minimum collateral margin on certain open positions to prevent similar incidents.
Prominent DeFi commentator Aylo defended the event as a valuable stress test, arguing that the 1% hit to HLP was a “very reasonable price” to expose and address protocol vulnerabilities.
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