‘OG’ Whale Raises Bearish BTC Bet Worth Over $400M

Bitcoin’s BTC$121,564.95 price swoon is marked by a veteran trader placing a bearish bet worth millions of dollars.

A bitcoin “OG” placed a leveraged short of 3,600 BTC, valued at $438 million, on the decentralized exchange Hyperliquid during overnight trading, as BTC’s spot price briefly dipped below $120,000, according to blockchain analyst LookOnChain.

The liquidation price for the short trade is $139,900. In other words, this is the level at which the position will encounter a margin shortage and risk being forcibly closed by the exchange.

The term “OG” (Original Gangster) refers to an entity involved in the bitcoin market since its early days, often regarded as a long-term holder.

Notably, this OG sold 3,000 BTC in the spot market earlier this week. A month ago, the entity also sold 35,991 BTC to diversify into ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.

Bitcoin changed hands at $121,700, showing a slight recovery from overnight lows, according to CoinDesk data. While the OG whale shorted BTC, the overall market sentiment remains bullish, as reflected by positive funding rates sourced from Velo.

At the time of writing, the annualized perpetual funding rates for BTC were around 5%, indicating a bullish bias but nothing unusual.