TL;DR
- A trader known as “qwatio” lost $12.5 million after being liquidated eight times in just one week due to highly leveraged positions on Bitcoin and Ether.
- Another well-known figure, James Wynn, took a short on Bitcoin but quickly flipped long.
- Despite extreme losses, an anonymous account turning $6,800 into $1.5 million in two weeks.
An exceptionally volatile week in the crypto derivatives market has highlighted the risk of high-leverage trading, as prominent and lesser-known traders alike saw fortunes vanish or multiply in hours. One of the most striking stories involved the trader operating under the handle “qwatio,” who suffered eight liquidations within a single week, incurring a staggering $12.5 million in losses.
The most recent blow came from a partial liquidation of a 25x leveraged Ether position. Ether has been trading between $2,425 and $2,519, hovering dangerously close to qwatio’s new liquidation threshold of $2,534. Bitcoin wasn’t spared either, as a similarly leveraged position was also partially liquidated, now set to be wiped out if BTC falls near $109,170.
Massive Losses Follow Earlier Gains
Earlier in March, qwatio had managed to secure impressive profits by going long on both Bitcoin and Ether with 50x leverage, earning $6.8 million shortly before President Trump signed an executive order supporting a national crypto reserve. That winning streak extended to meme tokens as well; a $3.46 million position on the MELANIA token also paid off, and a heavily leveraged Bitcoin position was salvaged through timely margin top-ups.
But aggressive leverage cuts both ways, and the tables have clearly turned.
Wynn Returns With More Risk
Another familiar name also reentered the arena. James Wynn, a crypto millionaire known for extreme trades and staggering losses, opened a 40x short on Bitcoin worth just $37,000 this past Sunday. The trade had a liquidation price of $108,630 and a potential upside of $1.49 million. Hours later, Wynn closed the short and went long with a $44,466 position after Bitcoin touched $107,250.
This isn’t his first rodeo. In late May and early June, Wynn was reportedly liquidated for nearly $125 million combined. Some speculate he also orchestrated a $300 million leveraged Bitcoin play earlier in June, using anonymity to shield himself from whale hunters aiming to trigger liquidations.
Despite the chaos, not all stories ended in red. An unknown trader quietly flipped $6,800 into $1.5 million in profit over two weeks, contributing over 3% of the maker-side liquidity on a major crypto exchange. Logging over $1.4 billion in volume, the account consistently ranked among the top liquidity providers, offering a sharp contrast to those undone by excessive risk.
