A $20 million liquidation! James Wynn shorted Bitcoin and was liquidated, leaving his account with only $900

Gate News message: a well-known trader, James Wynn, failed in a short on Bitcoin on the decentralized platform Hyperliquid, was liquidated by force, and his account balance dropped sharply to about $900, with cumulative losses approaching $20 million. On-chain data platforms Arkham Intelligence and HypurrScan both confirmed this liquidation event.

On-chain analytics firm Lookonchain noted that in just the past two weeks, James Wynn has been liquidated 6 times in a row, showing that his high-leverage short strategy is facing clear pressure under the current market conditions. Earlier, he had publicly stated that before the market improves, it may further deteriorate, and he adopted a cross-asset hedging strategy, including shorting U.S. stock indexes and going long on crude oil, while buying Bitcoin spot at lower prices.

However, the market move has deviated sharply from his assessment. Against the backdrop of heightened tensions in the Strait of Hormuz and oil prices staying elevated, Bitcoin did not weaken—instead, it rebounded quickly. In the past 24 hours, Bitcoin is up by about 3%, briefly broke through the $70k level intraday, and set a new one-week high; it has now pulled back to around $69k.

This rise was mainly driven by short squeezes in the derivatives market, as roughly $196 million in short positions was liquidated in a concentrated wave, further amplifying price volatility. At the same time, the total market capitalization of the crypto market has rebounded to about $2.35 trillion, a clear recovery from the previous day’s low.

The event once again highlights the risk of high-leverage trading in volatile markets. In a market dominated by liquidity and derivatives structure, short-term trends can reverse rapidly, and a mistake in directional judgment can trigger a chain liquidation effect.