Whale Shorting Spree Backfires With $10M in Crypto Market Losses

A bold attempt to profit from the latest crypto pullback has turned into one of the month’s most painful trading missteps.

On-chain trackers from HyperInsight revealed that a wallet known as Iron Head Air Force – beginning with 0x880ac – has seen more than $10.4 million evaporate in seven days.

The account has been stacking short positions across multiple major tokens, only to be caught on the wrong side of a sudden market rebound.

The most punishing loss comes from PUMP, where the whale opened positions near $0.0033. With prices climbing, that trade alone now sits at nearly $12.9 million in the red. Additional shorts include a $30 million bet against Solana, $12.5 million against Bitcoin, and smaller wagers targeting Chainlink, Bitcoin Cash, and Litecoin. Together, the portfolio has become a showcase of how quickly aggressive leverage can backfire when momentum shifts.

Opposite strategies, opposite outcomes

While one whale drowns in red, others are thriving. Ethena’s ENA token surged more than 13% in the past 24 hours following news of an expanded buyback plan. Another large holder – address 0x6b7…c5e9c – went long instead, stacking 5x leveraged ENA positions that returned a tidy $3.1 million profit.

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The bigger lesson

The contrast between these two whales underscores the high-stakes reality of today’s crypto markets: a single decision to lean long or short can make or break fortunes in days. For Iron Head Air Force, the past week is a brutal reminder that betting against surging altcoins can be just as dangerous as chasing them.