Bitcoin and major altcoins faced a sharp weekend pullback on August 23, 2026, after market maker Wintermute significantly expanded its short positions on Hyperliquid. BTC slipped from levels above $77,000 to an intraday low around $75,500 before finding support above $76,000, leaving it about 2% lower on the day. Ethereum dropped roughly 5% to below $2,400, while XRP fell 6.5% and moved back under $1.50 after being rejected near $1.70. CoinGlass data showed nearly $100 million in liquidations within a single hour, with BTC and ETH each accounting for about $41.5 million. Over the full day, liquidations exceeded $350 million and affected more than 90,000 traders.
According to Onchain Lens, Wintermute sent nearly $60 million worth of BTC and SOL to Binance and Coinbase, likely for selling. On Hyperliquid, its total short exposure rose from $146.19 million to $190.77 million. The largest shorts were Ethereum at $53.02 million and Bitcoin at $30.66 million, followed by Solana at $22.62 million, HYPE at $11.43 million, and XRP at $10.19 million. Earlier data showed the firm held $160.03 million in open positions, with $146.19 million short and only $13.85 million long, carrying a combined unrealized loss of $3.66 million while earning $2.14 million in funding.
Analysts cautioned that market makers often use derivatives for hedging or arbitrage rather than pure directional bets, so the Hyperliquid positioning may not reflect a straightforward bearish call. Still, the scale of the move highlighted growing institutional activity on Hyperliquid and contributed to negative sentiment during the correction. The pullback followed a rapid rally that had taken Bitcoin from around $64,000 to almost $80,000 in less than 48 hours, leaving the market vulnerable to a short-term reset.
