A major Ethereum (ETH) investor, known as a whale, suffered a massive $45 million loss on Thursday as the price of ETH dropped below the $4,000 support level for the first time since early August.
Blockchain analytics firm Lookonchain reported that the whale's address, identified as 0xa523, had its leveraged long position of 9,152 ETH (valued at $36.4 million) forcibly liquidated on the Hyperliquid decentralized exchange. This liquidation event resulted in total losses exceeding $45 million, reducing the whale's account balance to under $500,000.
The price of Ether fell to a low of $3,983 during Asian trading hours amid a broader cryptocurrency market decline. Bitcoin (BTC) and other digital assets also faced selling pressure, partly driven by concerns about a potential U.S. government shutdown.
Data from Coinglass revealed approximately $100 million in leveraged positions were liquidated during the Asian session, with over 90% of these being bullish bets on price increases. This indicates market leverage was significantly skewed towards optimistic ETH price predictions before the downturn.