Major Bitcoin Traders Increase Long Positions Amid Prolonged Negative Funding

For the past two months, the biggest traders on Hyperliquid have been accumulating a long position in bitcoin, and the price chart is starting to reflect this trend. According to Glassnode data, the positioning of whales on Hyperliquid, a leading on-chain perpetual futures exchange, shifted from net short to net long in early March and has remained long since, with the long bias expanding throughout April. This shift coincides with bitcoin's gradual rise from the mid-$60,000s in February to nearly $80,000 earlier this week. Notably, Hyperliquid has become the preferred on-chain venue for large-position traders over the past year, and a sustained long bias from this group often precedes spot bitcoin price movements by days to weeks. The early March shift to net long preceded the recovery from the mid-$60,000s, with the current positioning being the most aggressively long on record. Meanwhile, bitcoin perpetual swap funding across major exchanges remains negative at -0.13% on a seven-day basis, according to Coinglass, indicating that shorts are paying longs to maintain their positions. This negative funding has persisted for approximately 47 consecutive days, one of the longest periods of bearish derivatives positioning on record. The combination of sustained negative funding and aggressive long positioning from Hyperliquid whales creates a technical setup that can lead to short squeezes when spot prices break higher. In other news, the S&P 500 closed at a record high on Friday, marking its longest weekly advance since 2024. The weekend's scheduled talks between Iran and the US did not take place, and Treasury yields dropped after the Justice Department closed its probe into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, potentially paving the way for Kevin Warsh's confirmation as the next Fed leader. The impact of these developments on Hyperliquid's long positions will become clearer in the coming hours and days.