Bitcoin rises, trader 0xc3ed liquidated four times in 14 hours and loses $32.5M in shorts

Timing is everything in leveraged trading. For the wallet known as 0xc3ed, the difference between a legendary run and a $32.5 million wipeout came down to a directional call that went catastrophically wrong.

On September 22, on-chain tracker Lookonchain flagged that address 0xc3ed57a7a8fa374af47eba5dd713bc2946f800dd had been liquidated four separate times in a 14-hour window, dropping 375.8 Bitcoin in short positions as Bitcoin’s price climbed sharply into the $85,000 to $87,000 range.

Four liquidations, one very bad day

The trades were executed on a perpetual futures platform tracked by hypurrscan.io, where leverage amplifies both the upside and the downside with equal enthusiasm. When Bitcoin pushed higher instead of lower, the short positions began unwinding one after another.

Each successive liquidation suggests the trader attempted to reload and re-enter the short, doubling down on the directional bet. Bitcoin, indifferent to the effort, kept rising.

The total damage came to 375.8 BTC, worth roughly $32.55 million at the prices during that window. After all four liquidations cleared, the account held approximately $1.4 million.

The cruel twist: this trader was actually very good

In early September, the same address ran four consecutive long positions on Bitcoin with a perfect win rate. Four trades, four wins, $9.26 million in realized profits.

The short squeeze dynamic that drove these liquidations is a well-documented phenomenon in crypto perpetuals. When a large short position sits at a predictable liquidation price, market makers and algorithmic traders are incentivized to push the price toward that level. The liquidation then provides fresh buying pressure, which can push prices higher still, liquidating the next short, and so on. Four liquidations in 14 hours fits that pattern almost perfectly.

What perpetual futures markets actually do to traders

Perpetual futures, unlike traditional futures contracts, never expire. A trader can hold a leveraged position indefinitely, as long as the margin holds up.

The platforms tracking these positions, including hypurrscan.io and Lookonchain, have become important tools for market watchers precisely because large leveraged positions are visible on-chain and can telegraph where volatility is likely to emerge.

The retained $1.4 million suggests the trader was not entirely wiped out. The trader’s prior $9.26 million in profits shows genuine skill. The $32.55 million loss shows that skill and leverage together are only as durable as the next price move.