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A trader on Hyperliquid is sitting on $20.55 million in unrealized profits. The position — a long on 5.76 million NEAR tokens bought at $2.35 each back in September — has become one of the more talked-about trades on the platform right now.
Why It Matters
This significant profit reflects not only the trader's strategic timing ahead of favorable developments in the NEAR ecosystem but also highlights the broader market dynamics where long positions are thriving amidst a challenging environment for short sellers. As NEAR's price surge demonstrates the potential for substantial returns in the crypto market, it also underscores the importance of understanding market catalysts and their impacts on asset valuations. Such high-profile trades can influence sentiment and trading strategies across the crypto landscape, potentially encouraging more investors to explore long positions in similarly positioned assets.
NEAR was trading around $2.30 in early September. It’s now around $5.82, a move of more than 145%. The timing was pretty much perfect. The trader got in before two major catalysts hit: a governance change that slashed NEAR’s maximum annual inflation from roughly 5% down to 2.5%, and — bigger still — the launch of the Bitwise NRR fund, which became the first U.S. spot NEAR exchange-traded fund. That ETF debuted on September 29 and pulled in nearly $58 million during its first week alone. Plans are already in place to cut inflation further, to 1.6%, which would squeeze supply even more. NEAR Intents, the token’s cross-chain swap layer, logged $1.84 billion in transactions through September, with cumulative volume across more than 30 chains sitting somewhere between $31 billion and $33 billion. That’s a lot of network activity for a token that was barely above $2 not long ago.
The entry was surgical.
Short Positions Taking Damage
The other side of the book is a different story. The same account holds about $14.7 million in short positions spread across Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, Binance Coin, XRP, Cardano, and Avalanche. Most of them are underwater. The Bitcoin short was opened at an average price of $79,550, and Bitcoin has since climbed toward $84,000 — not great for a short. Losses on AVAX are running at $623,000. Cardano is costing $327,000. The SOL short is down $207,000. All in, the short book has racked up around $1.33 million in losses.
That number sounds bad but it’s dwarfed by the NEAR gains. So net, the trader is way ahead. Still, it’s worth noting these shorts aren’t tiny. And markets don’t move in straight lines.
The broader crypto short trade has been a tough one lately. Major tokens have been grinding higher across the board, which makes directional bets against them expensive to hold. Leverage amplifies that pain fast.
How Much Risk Is Actually Here
The NEAR position runs 10x leverage on a $34 million position. So a 10% drop in NEAR would wipe out roughly $3.4 million in a single move. That’s the math. Analysts have flagged that NEAR’s relative strength index has occasionally pushed past thresholds that typically signal overbought conditions. That doesn’t mean a crash is coming — it basically means the move has been sharp and fast, and sharp fast moves can reverse.
For the position to get liquidated entirely, NEAR would need to fall about 77% from current levels. The liquidation price sits around $1.33. That’s a long way down, but leveraged crypto positions have a way of looking safe right up until they don’t.
And there’s another wrinkle. ETF flows can reverse. The Bitwise NRR fund brought nearly $58 million in its first week, which clearly helped push NEAR higher. But ETF inflows aren’t permanent. If sentiment shifts or broader crypto markets sell off hard, those flows could dry up or reverse, and NEAR’s price would likely feel it. The reduced inflation rate helps on the supply side, but demand can evaporate fast in this market.
Elsewhere on Hyperliquid, other traders have been making similarly aggressive moves. An ether whale got liquidated for $69 million but came right back into the market. A separate trader opened a $32 million Bitcoin short timed around the anniversary of a previous crash. The platform seems to attract a certain type — high conviction, high leverage, not easily scared off by losses.
It’s a specific kind of trading culture. Not everyone survives it.
The NEAR trade, for now, is working. The combination of a well-timed entry, a favorable macro setup for the token, and a new ETF driving fresh demand has produced one of the cleaner leveraged wins seen on the platform recently. The short positions are a drag, but a $1.33 million loss against a $20.55 million gain is a trade-off most people would take.
What happens next depends heavily on where NEAR goes from $5.82. The trader’s liquidation point is far away, but with 10x leverage and a $34 million notional position, the daily swings in P&L are going to be significant either way. The short book adds another layer of complexity — if Bitcoin and Ethereum keep climbing, those losses will grow.
The NEAR long currently sits at $20.55 million in unrealized profit.
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Frequently Asked Questions
How much profit has the Hyperliquid trader made on the NEAR long position?
The trader has accumulated approximately $20.55 million in unrealized profits by going long on 5.76 million NEAR tokens purchased at $2.35 each in September.
What is the Bitwise NRR fund and how did it affect NEAR’s price?
The Bitwise NRR fund is the first U.S. spot NEAR ETF, which launched on September 29 and attracted nearly $58 million in its first week, contributing to NEAR’s surge past $5.82.
