Bitcoin shorts grew by $111 million in Hyperliquid’s large-account sample
Short exposure fell by $40 million across the other five crypto markets combined. The sample counted 101 Bitcoin shorts on both days.
Large accounts tracked by OptimistFi held $987 million in BitcoinBTC+0.85% perpetual futures shorts on Hyperliquid in Tuesday’s sample, up from $876 million on Monday. The increase in Bitcoin alone exceeded the $70 million rise in short exposure across all six crypto perps.
| Perp | Monday ($ millions) | Tuesday ($ millions) | Monday positions | Tuesday positions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BTC | 876.0 | 986.9 | 101 | 101 |
| ETH | 580.1 | 561.6 | 96 | 92 |
| SOL | 140.2 | 127.0 | 58 | 58 |
| XRP | 50.5 | 43.2 | 41 | 37 |
| DOGE | 20.2 | 18.4 | 34 | 34 |
| BNB | 5.0 | 5.3 | 25 | 26 |
The bars show the value of open long and short positions among the sampled accounts. They do not measure deposits or count traders.
| Short side | $1.74 billion |
|---|---|
| Long side | $972.8 million |
Bitcoin outweighed declines in Ether and Solana
EtherETH+0.94% shorts fell by $18.5 million and SolanaSOL+1.55% shorts by $13.2 million. XRP+0.01% and DogecoinDOGE+0.67% also declined. BNB+1.19% was the only other market where short exposure rose, by about $355,000.
Across the six markets, the value of shorts reached $1.74 billion, against $973 million in longs. Shorts made up 64.2% of the dollars in open positions on Tuesday, up from 63.5% on Monday.
Fewer short positions, more dollars at stake
Counting positions gives a different picture. The sample held 348 shorts out of 676 positions on Tuesday, down from 355 out of 658 on Monday. A wallet short both Bitcoin and Ether contributes two positions to those counts.
A Bitcoin perp short gains when Bitcoin falls. Its dollar exposure measures the size of the open position at the prevailing price. For example, a one-bitcoin short has $1,000 more exposure after a $1,000 price increase, even if the trader makes no trade. The price move produces a loss for that short.
The Bitcoin count stayed at 101. The two snapshots do not identify the same wallets across days, so they cannot tell us how much of the $111 million increase came from prices, larger trades or a change in which accounts the sample captured.