Whale pulls 72K $HYPE off Gate.io, expanding a $168M stash as spot buyers face off against crowded leveraged shorts around the key $40 support zone.
A crypto whale controlling the address 0xEe0A18B394ecE1D7bE81Be15d6cEc3Ac7707b71C has withdrawn 72,264 $HYPE from centralized exchange Gate.io, a haul worth roughly $30.6 million at recent prices, pushing its total holdings to 396,820 $HYPE or about $168 million. On-chain monitors have flagged the address repeatedly over the past month as one of the most aggressive accumulators of Hyperliquid’s native token during bouts of market stress.
Earlier in March, on-chain analytics outlet PANews reported that the same wallet, labeled “0xee0,” pulled 55,000 $HYPE worth approximately $2.1 million from Gate.io, taking its stash to 194,557 $HYPE valued near $7.44 million at the time, signaling an early conviction bid into weakness. A separate report from Phemex noted that a newly created wallet, again tied to 0xee0, had already withdrawn 139,557 $HYPE—then worth about $5.49 million—from Gate.io, underscoring how quickly the position has scaled.
Whale stacking into ETF narrative
The latest accumulation wave lands as $HYPE has traded in the $40 area after rebounding from a February low near $28 where large buyers, including high-profile trader Arthur Hayes, stepped in and helped defend key support, according to a February crypto.news story on Hyperliquid price action. On April 14, exchange KuCoin reported that $HYPE jumped 4.61% to $44.38 with 24‑hour volume of roughly $454 million as spot ETF filings from Bitwise, Grayscale, and 21Shares injected new speculative flow into the market.
Derivatives positioning shows whales are increasingly willing to express directional views on Hyperliquid. On April 22, a BlockBeats-linked on-chain analyst cited by Binance Square highlighted whale address 0xec8 opening a 5x leveraged $HYPE short at an average entry of $40.04, size around $3.38 million and liquidation near $46.60, while another whale at 0x4a8 hovered just below its liquidation line if $HYPE pushed to $41.60. Separately, trader Loracle disclosed via OnchainLens a $14 million short on $HYPE with 5x leverage initiated around $41.02, illustrating a crowded battlefield between leveraged bears and spot accumulators.
Broader on-chain data suggests that, despite these sizable short positions, large holders are net adding to longs on the Hyperliquid DEX, a trend analytics firm AMBCrypto says “signals a strong bullish sentiment among whales trading on perp DEXs” as they eye a potential move toward $50 if $40 holds as support. A recent crypto.news story on Hyperliquid’s whale-led defense of $28 support also pointed to rising open interest and tightening free float as catalysts that could amplify volatility as positions reach critical liquidation thresholds.
