For two months, major traders on Hyperliquid have been accumulating long positions in bitcoin, and the price trend is starting to reflect this. According to Glassnode data, the largest traders on the on-chain perpetual futures exchange shifted from a net short to a net long position in early March and have maintained this stance ever since, with their long bias growing stronger throughout April. This shift coincides with bitcoin's gradual rise from the mid-$60,000 range in February to nearly $80,000 earlier this week. Historically, Hyperliquid has become the preferred platform for large traders, and a sustained long bias from this group tends to precede spot bitcoin price movements by days to weeks.
The early March shift to a net long position 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 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's major traders 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. However, the scheduled talks between Iran and the US over the weekend did not take place, and the implications of this development on Hyperliquid's long positions will become clearer in the coming hours and days.