Original | Odaily (@OdailyChina）
Author | Wenser (@wenser 2010）
On May 26, Hyperliquid officially announced that the platform's multiple data points have once again reached historical highs: the total outstanding contract amount reached $10.1 billion; 24-hour fee income was $5.6 million; USDC locked volume reached $3.5 billion. It can be seen that with the new high breakthrough in the market, Hyperliquid, known as the "on-chain CEX", has gradually become the market's liquidity focus. Previously, many crypto whales have engaged in long and short battles here, with many gaining significant profits. Recently, James Wynn, who has been making waves, drove the BTC and PEPE market through Hyperliquid's epic position, and the attention and liquidity he generated even overflowed to meme coins like moonpig.
Without exaggeration, to a certain extent, Hyperliquid has become a hunting ground for crypto whales, where many people influence market sentiment through publicly disclosed positions, thereby achieving market price manipulation and completing their profitable hunt.
Odaily will briefly explore this trend and its subsequent direction in this article.
Hyperliquid's New Trading Volume High: A Feast Boosted by Crypto Whales
For those who want to comprehensively understand Hyperliquid whale James Wynn, readers are welcome to read the article 'Who is James Wynn: Trading Genius from a Small Town, a Crazy Whale Betting 1 Billion'. Today, we want to discuss the potential and transmission impact of crypto whales like James Wynn on the crypto market under the current market environment.
It's worth mentioning that James Wynn is not the first crypto whale to "influence market direction with positions". Previously, @qwatio, known as the "Hyperliquid 50x leverage whale", had also stirred market winds with Hyperliquid orders. He once achieved over $9 million in profits by betting on the Federal Reserve's resolution in March, and due to the extremely precise and coincidental opening time, he was called the "50x insider" by many crypto traders. On-chain detective ZachXBT had previously exposed that his real identity might be the fraudster and phishing hacker William Parker (originally named Alistair Packover) who had committed multiple crimes.
Regardless, the current situation is that Hyperliquid provides a huge "on-chain stage" for crypto whales with massive capital - here, they can not only showcase their strength, attract attention, and even gain followers through opening positions, but also engage in alternative trading battles, indirectly influencing market attention focus and underlying market sentiment.
As a rising on-chain contract platform (although Hyperliquid has always claimed to be a high-performance L1 chain), Hyperliquid has become an irreplaceable liquidity gathering place in the crypto market, thus becoming a must-compete place for market makers.
According to Dune data, from May 19 to May 25, Hyperliquid's contract trading volume reached $78.7 billion, with a total market trading volume of about $109.6 billion, accounting for 71.8%; moreover, in terms of 24-hour trading volume, Hyperliquid's trading volume proportion today reached 73.1%, with a 7-day trading volume increase of about 46% and a 30-day trading volume increase of about 20%, ranking first among crypto exchange contract platforms.
Hyperliquid Weekly Market Trading Volume Proportion
Such a massive trading volume naturally cannot be separated from crypto whales with positions ranging from millions to hundreds of millions of dollars. From our previously published article 'Multiple Army Retreat vs. Short Army Carnival: Has $10,000 Become BTC's "Maginot Line"?', it can be seen that many whales choose Hyperliquid as their preferred platform for opening positions. As the current important market wind vane, the various large-scale long and short positions on Hyperliquid and the traders behind them have undoubtedly become the best "market conductors".
Hyperliquid Becomes a New Attention Battlefield: James Wynn and the Volatile moonpig
As the most popular trader currently, James Wynn's every move attracts high market attention, just like the previous Hyperliquid 50x leverage whale, the former Meme coin godfather Murad, and always active market traders like Ansem. His latest "masterpiece" might be this Meme coin project called moonpig.
Made by Meme, Defeated by Meme
moonpig first appeared in public view on May 10 when its price surged to break $0.02.
Just 2 days later, its price doubled to $0.04, and 10 days later, on May 22, it consecutively broke through $0.05 and $0.1. At that time, it was precisely when this legendary trader James Wynn gained market attention for his large BTC long position profit-taking.
Within just a few days, moonpig achieved a 3x jump from a market cap of $30 million to over $100 million. Many attributed its rise to James Wynn's passionate shilling. However, today, moonpig dropped sharply by up to 30% due to whale selling, with its market cap falling to around $52 million (Odaily notes: it has since recovered to around $79 million), which sparked market dissatisfaction with James Wynn. Many believed he dumped to profit, although he subsequently denied this in a post and even hinted at exiting the contract market and made a withdrawal, his subsequent trading actions still made people think "he's still unable to leave trading".
The latest news shows that James Wynn today again deposited 4 million USDC as margin on Hyperliquid, with his current 40x BTC long position valued at $75.12 million, with a liquidation price of $97,702.
In fact, controversies and doubts surrounding James Wynn and his public shilling have never stopped.
Previously, James Wynn was criticized for paid shilling of Baby Pepe and blocking the project team, and this time moonpig is also seen by many as a "stain" in his trading career. After all, as he mentioned in his previous statement - "Do you really think I would care about selling a few hundred thousand dollars of tokens when I hold contract positions worth hundreds of millions of dollars?" If he truly didn't care, why would he so carefully endorse and publicly shill?
Of course, history is written by victors, and the crypto market is no exception. At this moment, when James Wynn is still verifying his investment logic with tens of millions of dollars, many still choose to believe his judgment, and inevitably, dissent also exists.
Trader Eugene's Sharp Commentary: Publicly Revealing Large Positions Does More Harm Than Good
Trader Eugene commented that James Wynn's act of publicly establishing an extremely large position is quite controversial, pointing out that "from experience, this is almost always a bad idea, and its negative externalities often outweigh the positive effects." He added that it will be worth continuing to observe how Wynn manages long-term risk management capabilities under extremely high position sizes with 10 to 20 times leverage.
In the long term, moonpig, as a MEME coin that has attracted certain market attention, still aligns with our previous assertion that "for MEME coins, what matters most is not just symbols and narratives, but attention." The current price recovery K-line trend is evidence of this, so prices may still be in an upward trend.
Conclusion: Onchain Summer Has Arrived, Hyperliquid Becomes a New Paradise for Whales
With crypto exchanges like Binance, OKX, and Bybit entering the on-chain ecosystem through Alpha, Wallet, and other forms; traditional investment institutions entering the crypto market through ETFs; and listed companies hoarding BTC to enjoy stock price appreciation dividends, Onchain Summer has entered every corner of the crypto market in an alternative way. Hyperliquid, the largest "on-chain contract platform," has become a new paradise for many crypto whales.
Here, they can not only track and profit from price trends through frequent trading, but also influence off-market sentiment and market direction to some extent through their positions. On this crypto land full of risks and opportunities, James Wynn is neither the first nor the last hunter.
