In the volatile world of cryptocurrencies, the activity of a Bitcoin whale known as Whale 1011 stands out, believed to be Garrett Gane, the former co-founder of the now-closed Bitforex exchange. This whale had made huge gains last October by opening massive short positions on the Hyperliquid platform, just hours before the major price crash of Bitcoin, raising suspicions about whether it had insider information that helped it predict the event.
As the end of November approaches, this whale has returned stronger, but this time it is betting on the rise. It opened three massive long buy positions on Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Solana (SOL), with a total value exceeding $500 million. These positions surpass the size of its previous short positions before the crash, making it its largest known buy position on the platform. Unlike other whales facing deliberate liquidation attempts from competing traders, Whale 1011 appears to have more freedom to execute its trades without significant interference.
The whale began building a buy position on Ethereum, then moved to Bitcoin. It placed limit buy orders to take advantage of dips in Ethereum between $3,030 and $3,150 (while the ETH price was trading at $3,245.29 at that time), and Solana at $138.6 (with the SOL price at $138.84, slightly above the target range). For the Bitcoin position, it set the entry price at $91,506.7, which is above the average trader prices around $88,000 based on thermal filter maps. The whale shows a clear willingness to add additional collateral and pay high funding fees to maintain these positions, reflecting high confidence in the upward trend.
Amid a state of market tension, the Bitcoin price temporarily dropped below $90,000 before recovering above $92,000. The fear and greed index stands at only 29 points, with slight changes in recent days, while the open interest for Bitcoin contracts is $28 billion, lower than the usual level of $33 billion. The whale's return coincides with the potential for significant market shifts, possibly due to the expiration of weekly options on Deribit, which often precedes sharp price movements at the weekend. Traders warn of the risk of dropping to $85,000 or even $80,000, but they see the possibility of a quick rise if bullish momentum continues.
On December 11, the whale transferred 5,152 Bitcoins to a new wallet, while the remaining known wallet holds 9,340 Bitcoins. Despite this activity, the whale's intentions remain unclear, as its previous trades focused on short-term profit without clear signals for long-term holding. This shift from short selling to long buying is a potential signal of optimism from large whales, but it reminds traders of the risks of rapid fluctuations in the cryptocurrency market.
