Analysis from Yu-Jin: Giant whale falls into the buy trap at the top, accumulating a loss of $39.15 million from WBTC and ETH

According to surveillance information from analyst yu-jin @EmberCN, a giant whale has fallen into the classic trap of the cryptocurrency market: buying at the top and selling at the bottom. This event not only highlights the risks of using recursive borrowing cycles in an uncertain market but also serves as a valuable lesson in position management during volatile market conditions. Currently, this whale has incurred an accumulated loss of approximately $39.15 million from WBTC and ETH transactions.

“Ambitious” Strategy at Market Peak: The High Cost of Buying at the Top

In August 2025, when the market appeared to be on the rise, this whale decided to build a massive position through recursive borrowing. Specifically, it purchased 1,560 WBTC at an average price of $116,762 per coin (total value around $182 million) and immediately bought an additional 18,517 ETH at about $4,415 per coin (value approximately $81.75 million). In total, this position represented over $263 million invested in the top two cryptocurrencies, fully supported by the borrowing cycle mechanism.

This strategy initially seemed reasonable: buying the largest assets in the market when they appeared to be trending upward. However, as many layered traders have experienced before, the market quickly changed direction.

Consecutive Stop-Losses: The Selling Frenzy of WBTC and ETH

From November 2025, as the market began to decline significantly, this whale started a painful stop-loss journey. In this strategy, it decided to sell all of its ETH holdings, netting about $56.46 million (selling 18,517 ETH at $3,049 per coin at that time). However, compared to the initial purchase price of $4,415, this whale suffered an ETH loss of up to $25.29 million.

For WBTC, the situation was not much better. The whale sold 560 WBTC at various prices, averaging around $92,015 per coin (bringing in about $51.53 million). The loss from this WBTC portion reached $13.86 million. Nevertheless, today, as BTC surged past the $87,580 mark (current data), the whale decided to sell an additional 300 WBTC to cover debts, bringing in approximately $26.24 million.

Remaining Position and Market Lessons

To date, after selling 860 WBTC (560 + 300), the giant whale still holds about 700 WBTC, valued at approximately $61.22 million based on the current WBTC price of $87,460 per coin. However, with an accumulated loss of $39.15 million, this position serves as a vivid testament to the risks of high leverage in unpredictable markets.

This event, analyzed by yu-jin and other experts, demonstrates that even colossal whales can make fundamental mistakes in risk management. The main lesson is: nothing guarantees that the market will continue upward, and using recursive borrowing cycles can turn potential profits into enormous losses within weeks.