Key Takeaways:
Wintermute opened a $10.19 million XRP short on Hyperliquid on Aug. 24, betting against a token up 47 percent in seven days to trade near $1.47.
Onchain Lens, a blockchain analytics account, flagged the position at 07:01 UTC, showing the wallet's total short exposure on Hyperliquid reached $190.77 million, up from $146.19 million in an earlier snapshot. The XRP short was the fifth-largest bearish position in the account, trailing Ethereum at $53.02 million, Bitcoin at $30.66 million, Solana at $22.62 million, and HYPE at $11.43 million.
The wallet carried a combined unrealized loss of approximately $5.85 million when the data was captured, though lifetime profits for the address stand at $203.55 million, according to Onchain Lens. The $10.19 million XRP position represents roughly 0.28 percent of the $3.61 billion in XRP open interest on derivatives exchanges at the time.
XRP traded between $1.46 and $1.54 over the latest 24-hour period with volume near $4.85 billion. Binance's general account long-to-short ratio stood at approximately 2.57, while OKX's equivalent reading was about 2.08, indicating accounts remain skewed long. Around $21.42 million in XRP derivatives positions were liquidated in the preceding 24 hours, with long liquidations accounting for $12.47 million versus $8.95 million from shorts.
Wintermute is not alone in building bearish exposure. Abraxas Capital and Fastanara Capital have also accumulated significant short positions on Hyperliquid, with the three firms collectively holding 138,569 ETH in shorts valued at $338 million and 3,425 BTC worth $265 million, according to on-chain data. Hyperliquid's open interest has climbed above $12 billion as the platform attracts both retail and institutional flow.
The attribution of the wallet to Wintermute relies on third-party labels and transaction analysis; the firm has not publicly confirmed control of the address or disclosed the purpose of the positions. Market makers frequently use perpetual futures to hedge spot inventory, options exposure, and client transactions, so a short on Hyperliquid does not necessarily reflect a directional bearish forecast.
The first test for XRP is whether it can hold the $1.44 to $1.46 support region after its weekly surge. Resistance sits near the recent $1.54 high, followed by the psychological $1.60 level. A move above those levels would increase losses for uncovered short positions and could trigger a squeeze on leveraged longs, while a break below support would favor bearish exposure.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
