Hyperliquid trader James Wynn hit with over $100 million loss as leveraged bitcoin trade unravels

Hyperliquid trader James Wynn experienced a liquidation of 1,044.63 BTC on the platform following bitcoin's price dip, resulting in a loss worth around $110 million over the past week.

As a self-proclaimed "high-risk leverage trader," Wynn gained significant recognition in the crypto space by executing highly leveraged trades on bitcoin and memecoins like PEPE.

Betting on bitcoin's continued upward momentum, Wynn put a $830 million long position on May 21, acquiring 7,764 BTC at an entry price of $105,033. Wynn later scaled up his position to $1.25 billion by May 24, raising the bet to 11,588 BTC at an average price of $108,243.

However, his bullish bet fell apart as Bitcoin’s price plummeted below $105,000, likely influenced by U.S. President Donald Trump’s 50% tariff announcement on EU exports.

As bitcoin price continued to fall, Wynn saw multiple positions being liquidated Friday, including 527.29 BTC worth $55.3 million at $104,950 per bitcoin and 421.8 BTC worth $43.9 million at $104,150, according to data from Hypurrscan, Around two hours ago, another long position of 95.51 BTC worth $10 million was liquidated at $104,620. 

Earlier today, Wynn wrote on social media platform X — "One thing for sure is that I have exposed just how corrupt these markets are. Guess it’s better to just buy and hold $BTC on spot / cold storage it."

Wynn currently still holds a 40x leveraged long Bitcoin position of approximately 1,591.82 BTC, valued at roughly $167.49 million, with a liquidation price around $104,530, Hypurrscan data shows.