ETH trader portfolio down to $770K after missing out on $43M leverage trading profit

An anonymous crypto trader had turned an initial $125,000 investment into tens of millions of dollars in just four months. However, after two days of an Ethereum price slump wiped out most of his gains, he has lost most of it after initially locking $7 million from the position.

Known on-chain as address 0x15b3, the trader became one of the most profitable market participants on decentralized exchange Hyperliquid. According to blockchain tracker Lookonchain, the investor closed out positions worth $303 million, realizing a profit of nearly $6.86 million, equal to a 55x return on the original stake.

The trade capped a remarkable run that saw the account’s equity reach over $43 million in August, a gain of 344x from the initial investment. By the time positions were closed following Ethereum’s downturn, the account balance had fallen back to around $6.99 million.

He then went long again on Wednesday with the locked profits and lost $6.22 million, with his leverage portfolio now showing slightly over $600k.

Portfolio performance and trade history

The trader’s chart history shared by Lookonchain shows he made several aggressive leveraged long positions on Hyperliquid across major cryptos. Since April, the account has held long exposure to at least 15 different tokens, including Ethereum, Ripple’s XRP, Solana, and Chainlink. Those positions collectively brought in profits of over $38 million.

Separate on-chain data highlights the trader’s Bitcoin moves. In April, the wallet purchased 309 Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) at an average entry price of $79,778, representing an investment of around $24.68 million. Between mid-June and August, the trader sold 199 WBTC at an average of $110,687, realizing $22.06 million. 

With 110 BTC remaining in the portfolio, valued near $12.5 million, the trades have generated nearly $10 million in profit. Blockchain records suggest the wallet has accumulated more than $48 million in overall profits since the start of this run in April.

However, in one chart dated August 14, the portfolio briefly peaked at $14 million before collapsing to under $2 million within hours. Another snapshot showed a surge to nearly $29 million before tanking to just over $5 million.

According to data from Coinglass tracking the last 24 hours, Ethereum was the most liquidated asset in the market with $179.8 million. The majority of the forced sales came from long positions, which made up $138 million of the total, while short positions accounted for $41 million. 

Ethereum price downturn

Ethereum’s price has fallen from above $4,600 to near $4,100 over the past week, triggering big numbers in liquidations of leveraged long positions. The move also closed the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) futures gap between $4,050 and $4,100, a technical level closely tracked by traders.

At press time, Ethereum was trading near $4,200, down 1% over the past 24 hours and 10% lower on the week. 

Despite the recent sell-off, some traders are optimistic about Ether’s longer-term prospects. Order book data shows liquidity between $4,200 and $4,400 has been absorbed, and support appears to be forming near the $4,000 level.

Around $120 billion was wiped from cryptocurrency markets over the past 24 hours, pulling total capitalization down to a two-week low of $3.86 trillion during early Asian trading on Wednesday.

Bitcoin slipped below $113,000, its lowest level in 17 days, giving back all of its gains from the all-time high level of $124,457 it reached six days ago, as covered by Cryptopolitan.

The sell-off comes ahead of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s upcoming speech at Jackson Hole on Friday. Economists now believe September rate cuts are no longer certain, and any indication from Powell that cuts may be delayed could extend the bearish trend.

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