For the past two months, the biggest players on Hyperliquid have been accumulating long positions in bitcoin, and the price trend is finally starting to reflect their strategy. According to Glassnode data, the overall positioning of whales on Hyperliquid, a platform for on-chain perpetual futures, shifted from net short to net long in early March and has remained long ever since, with the long bias intensifying throughout April. This shift has coincided with bitcoin's gradual rise from the mid-$60,000 range in February to nearing $80,000 earlier this week. Historically, Hyperliquid has become the preferred venue for large traders, and a sustained long bias from this group often precedes spot bitcoin price movements by days or weeks.
The early March shift to net long preceded the recovery from the mid-$60,000s, and current positioning is 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 by Hyperliquid whales creates a technical setup that can lead to short squeezes when spot prices break higher. In other financial news, the S&P 500 reached a record high on Friday, marking its longest weekly advance since 2024. Over the weekend, scheduled talks between Iran and the U.S. in Pakistan did not occur, as President Donald Trump canceled the U.S.
delegation's trip after the Iranian foreign minister departed before the U.S. group's arrival. Additionally, Treasury yields decreased following the Justice Department's closure of its investigation 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.