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Bitcoin OG Who Profited From Trump’s China Tariffs Now Holds $234M in BTC Short Position: Arkham
BTC has pulled back sharply from Tuesday's high of around $114,000.
Updated Oct 22, 2025, 7:21 a.m. Published Oct 22, 2025, 4:38 a.m.
What to know:
- Bitcoin's price has rebounded since the Oct. 10 crash, but skepticism remains among some traders.
- The OG whale, who profited $200 million from shorting BTC before the sell-off, has placed a new $234 million short position, according to on-chain analytics firm Arkham.
The bitcoin price has made a strong recovery since the Oct. 10 crash, but not everyone is convinced.
One notable skeptic is a Bitcoin OG who earned $200 million by shorting the largest cryptocurrency before the sell-off, which was reportedly sparked by President Donald Trump’s aggressive tariff announcement on China.
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On Tuesday, the whale placed a new bearish bet, swiftly increasing it to a $234 million short position on BTC via the decentralized exchange Hyperliquid, according to data from Arkham. The liquidation price for this short is $123,000, the price point at which the position will face a margin call and be forcibly closed by the exchange.
The new position emerged as BTC’s price rally from the Oct. 10 low of about $104,000 stalled near $114,000 on Tuesday. Since then, the cryptocurrency has pulled back to $108,500, according to CoinDesk data.
What happened on Oct. 10?
The bitcoin price plunged from around $122,000 to $104,000 on Oct. 10, with most losses occurring late in the day after Trump announced an additional 100% tariff on Chinese goods, on top of the existing 30% tariffs.
The announcement followed China’s move to tighten controls on rare earth exports, pushing risk assets lower. The sell-off was intensified by technical issues at Binance, which triggered volatility in key tokens like Ethena's synthetic dollar USDe.
Interestingly, the BTC whale opened a massive short position about 30 minutes before the tariff announcement. The ensuing price crash generated significant profits for the trader and sparked allegations of insider trading.
AI Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards. For more information, see CoinDesk's full AI Policy.
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