TLDR:
- Market: Plasma (XPL) futures on Hyperliquid surged from $0.58 to $1.8, netting $38M in profits for three whale wallets, with 80% of $160M open interest liquidated in 10 minutes.
- Narrative: A whale or group, rumored to involve Justin Sun, longed XPL on Hyperliquid, catapulting its price 200% and liquidating shorts. Plasma’s Tether-supported stablecoin buzz and Hyperliquid’s low liquidity drove it, but the manipulation risk is large.
On August 27, 2025, a whale or group of Hyperliquid, a decentralized derivatives trading platform, traders took a huge long position in Plasma (XPL) futures, pushing it up from $0.58 to $1.8 over minutes, according to Lookonchain. That brought in $38M in gains, with one depositor putting in $16M USDC for a net gain of $15M while keeping an $8.1M long position, while 2 other wallets made up for the take. The action washed out 80% of $160M open interest, reducing it in 10 minutes from $160M to $30M, as one short trader lost $2.5M. Plasma, a Layer-1 blockchain for Tether-backed stablecoins, raised $373M in a July 2025 public sale and allied itself with Binance for USDT yield products, which promoted XPL futures. Hyperliquid’s low liquidity, single-source price reference, and transparent shorts facilitated the squeeze, reflecting a doubled futures price in WLFI.
X user @mlmabc initially credited Justin Sun with the trade based on a historical transfer in a wallet’s past of ETH to an address belonging to Sun but later revised it to @Techno_Revenant, thus leaving Sun’s involvement unfounded. Hyperliquid, at 1/10–1/5 major CEX volume, offers anonymity but is susceptible to manipulation. Investors should monitor XPL’s launch and Hyperliquid’s volatile futures closely, with a warning about rug pulls.
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