A significant trader on Hyperliquid has exited a large bitcoin long position at a loss and shifted into leveraged bets on Tesla and chip stocks, timing the moves around Tesla's scheduled earnings announcement.
The wallet closed 1,355.6 BTC on October 18 near $80,945, realizing a $3.26 million loss according to onchain trackers. The trader then deployed $46 million across new positions: a $34.6 million Tesla long at 20x leverage and positions in the Roundhill Memory ETF (DRAM) and Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bull 3X fund (SOXL). The moves left the account down approximately $9.53 million over the past week and $6.52 million over the past month.
Exit Timing and Missed Gains
The bitcoin sale occurred just before a market bounce. Bitcoin traded near $82,700 later that day, roughly 2.2% above the trader's exit price. On a 1,355.6 BTC position, that price movement would have represented approximately $2.4 million in gains.
The exit was preceded by other losing trades: a $1.58 million loss on a Coreweave short on October 15, a $1.73 million loss from cutting 1,188 BTC on October 16, and an $1.08 million loss from liquidated ether positions on October 17.
Tesla Bet and Liquidation Risk
The new positions carry significant leverage. The Tesla trade holds 96,522 units worth approximately $34.6 million, entered at $360.23 with 20x isolated leverage. The liquidation price sits near $350.74, putting the position in danger if Tesla falls more than approximately 2% from recent levels.
Tesla closed Friday at $354.72, down from $378.03 on October 12. The company is scheduled to report third-quarter results after market close on October 21.
The chip-related positions—DRAM at 20x leverage worth $7.6 million and SOXL at 10x worth $3.9 million—show modest gains of $265,000 and $291,000 respectively. However, the Tesla position, by far the largest, is down approximately $204,000.
The trading account holds roughly $2.83 million in equity against approximately $46 million in total exposure. Despite being up approximately $2.18 million all-time on over $1.18 billion in trading volume, the account's cushion from earlier profitability has largely eroded.
