For two months, the largest traders on Hyperliquid have been accumulating a long position in bitcoin, and the price chart is now starting to reflect this trend. According to Glassnode data, the whale positioning on Hyperliquid, a blockchain-based perpetual futures exchange, shifted from a net short to a net long position in early March and has remained long ever since, with the long bias intensifying throughout April. This shift coincides with bitcoin's gradual ascent from the mid-$60,000 range in February to a recent high near $80,000. Hyperliquid has become the go-to on-chain platform for traders with large positions over the past year, and a sustained long bias from this group often precedes spot bitcoin price movements by several days to weeks.
The early March shift to a net long position preceded the recovery from the mid-$60,000 range, and the current positioning is the most aggressively long on record. Meanwhile, the seven-day bitcoin perpetual swap funding rate across major exchanges is -0.13%, 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 rise.
In other news, the S&P 500 reached a record high on Friday, marking its longest weekly gain since 2024. The scheduled talks between Iran and the US over the weekend did not take place, and Treasury yields declined after the Justice Department closed 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.