Hyperliquid Whales Bet Big on Cardano but Face Combined $1.71M Unrealized Losses

Two Hyperliquid whales are betting on Cardano to recover, taking sizable long positions, but they are already in the red as the coin has continued to fall.

Cardano (ADA) is in an obvious downtrend, but all hope is not lost for the prominent altcoin. Large market participants remain optimistic that it will recover from its prolonged correction and reach higher prices.

Among others, two whales are particularly putting their money on this optimism. On-chain data shows huge leveraged bets on an ADA reversal on the decentralized exchange Hyperliquid, but this is currently going south.

Whales on Cardano Long Positions

The first trader with the address “0x51f63” has an open 10x long position on Cardano valued at $2.6 million (17.3 million ADA). This whale opened this trade when the coin traded at $0.176, a price last seen in early June.

However, his bet has not gone according to plan. At the time of writing, the address is nursing unrealized losses of $431,660, which is 165% of its actual margin size on the Cardano position. Had the wallet not contained more capital or gains from other trades, the position would already have been liquidated.

Interestingly, the long trade has no liquidation price, highlighting the whale’s deep pocket and ability to hold the position even if ADA drops much lower.

At the same time, another whale is suffering a worse unrealized loss on ADA. Address “0x123dbc” has a similar 10x leveraged long but is on an unrealized loss of $1.28 million. This is because he opened the bet, worth $1.28 million (8.4 million ADA), at an entry price of $0.303. Notably, Cardano last traded at this level in February.

The unrealized loss is already a staggering 1,003% of his margin size. However, since it is a cross position, profits from other trades and the undeployed capital have kept it going. There is also no estimated liquidation price due to the magnitude of the portfolio.

Cardano Down 35% in 30 Days

The sizable bets are in the red solely because Cardano has continued to drop lower for a prolonged period. Over the past 30 days, the coin has lost over one-third of its value, specifically dropping 35% to $0.15.

ADA has further stepped back from its peak price this cycle, crashing 88% from $1.32 in December 2024. While the trend mirrors a broader market move, Cardano has been one of the worst-performing. 

For context, no other asset in the top 20 cryptocurrencies by market cap has dropped as much as ADA in the past 30 days. This has ensured it dropped six places from 10th to 16th in the market cap rankings.

Nonetheless, analysts view this as a temporary phase. With the asset’s risk-to-reward becoming more appealing, a recovery to reclaim key resistance levels when the broader market conditions turn positive again would substantially benefit those who bought the current dip.

The next key level to watch is the $0.13 support, where ADA consolidated in December 2020 before a bullish continuation. Breaking below could take the coin towards $0.10, aligning with an ABC corrective Elliott Wave target.