Bitcoin Whales Accumulate Long Positions Amid Prolonged Negative Funding

For two months, the largest traders on Hyperliquid have been accumulating long positions in bitcoin, and the price chart is starting to reflect this trend. According to Glassnode data, the whale positioning on Hyperliquid, a prominent on-chain perpetual futures exchange, shifted from net short to net long in early March and has remained long ever since, with the long bias growing stronger throughout April. This shift coincides with bitcoin's gradual increase 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 traders over the past year, and a sustained long bias from this group tends to precede spot bitcoin price action by days or weeks. The recent flip to net long in early March preceded the recovery from the mid-$60,000s, and the current positioning is the most aggressively long on record. Meanwhile, bitcoin perpetual swap funding across major exchanges remains negative, with shorts paying longs to maintain their positions, at -0.13% on a seven-day basis according to Coinglass. This negative funding has persisted for approximately 47 consecutive days, one of the longest stretches 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 reached a record high on Friday, marking its longest weekly advance since 2024. The recent US-Iran talks, which were scheduled to take place in Pakistan, were canceled, and the outcome of these developments on Hyperliquid's long positions will become clearer in the coming hours and days.