Bitcoin Whales Bleed $100M While Derivatives Send Mixed Signals

Bitcoin’s recent sell-off has wiped out hundreds of millions in unrealized gains, and whales have taken the hardest hit.

According to CryptoQuant’s realized profit data, a sharp plunge in BTC’s price in early July triggered heavy losses among large wallets.

In just a few days, Bitcoin whale wallets collectively lost over $100 million. And it is visible that new Bitcoin whale addresses (likely recent entrants) contributed to the bulk of the realized red.

Here’s What’s Happening

It’s not entirely spot selling. On the derivatives front, funding rates, particularly the Open Interest (OI)-weighted metrics, remain unusually flat.

Funding rate spikes usually spike when markets swing violently. But here, despite visible liquidations, funding hasn’t reacted much.

This creates a strange dissonance: Bitcoin whales are exiting, yet traders are not paying a premium (flat funding rates) to stay long or short. The market appears frozen in indecision.

Which Bitcoin Whales are Getting Hit

Some wallets have taken massive losses in public view. One of the most visible names is James Wynn (@JamesWynnReal), a crypto trader known for his aggressive 40x leveraged plays on Hyperliquid.

According to Lookonchain, Wynn was partially liquidated for 4.59 BTC ($486K) during the July 2 dip. His liquidation price sat just above $105,500, confirming he was caught on the wrong end of a fast move.

Moments later, Onchain Lens reported Wynn had switched direction, closing his previous position with a $3,015 loss and immediately re-opening a new 40x BTC long.

He wasn’t alone. Another trader, known only by address 0xFa5D, closed a long ETH position with a $3.55 million loss, according to Hyperdash screenshots.

Minutes later, the same wallet re-entered the market with a 10x short on ETH using the entire $15.6 million USDC balance. Yes, this shows that the whale bleeding wasn’t restricted to BTC alone.

Yet again, the move ended in a massive $3.27 million loss, bringing the total to $6.83 million gone in 24 hours.

Onchain Lens noted that if the wallet had simply held the previous position, it might have ended in profit. But emotion took over.

What the Charts Say

CryptoQuant’s BTC Realized Profit chart shows a steep drop below zero in July, with purple and blue bars representing new whales and those active in the past 30 days, spiking into negative territory. This typically signals panic exits rather than profit-booking.

Funding rate charts from Coinglass further muddy the waters. BTC’s OI-weighted funding rate hovered around neutral, suggesting neither longs nor shorts were dominating.

ETH’s funding chart showed slightly positive rates, but not enough to suggest strong directional conviction. Traders appear cautious, possibly sidelined, despite liquidations piling up.

A Look at Ethereum Traders

ETH was not spared. The funding rate on ETH futures showed a small positive tilt, even as prices fell below $2,400. Coinglass data shows that despite small inflows, conviction remains weak.

Liquidation stories are stacking up here, too. Twitter user @qwatio, dubbed “The Gambler,” reportedly lost $30.65 million in BTC and $20.6 million in ETH in a single round, liquidated on both sides of the trade. He has now been liquidated 23 times across both assets.

That level of overexposure usually happens when volatility compresses and then suddenly breaks.

Whales aren’t exiting in unison, but enough have left to move the needle. Funding data tells us there’s no clear consensus among derivatives traders. In fact, the market’s muted response might reflect exhaustion more than confidence.

The standout here isn’t just the liquidation size, but the behavior. Wallets like 0xFa5D and @JamesWynnReal flipped positions aggressively, sometimes within minutes, amplifying their losses. That reeks of FOMO and emotional trading.

Some see this chop as bottom-building. Others say more pain is ahead if funding doesn’t turn.

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