Address places nearly $100M ETH short order on Hyperliquid, triggering a market depth test

HuoXing Finance reports: On August 6, according to TradingBeats (formerly Hyperinsight), an address starting with 0xd9a5 initiated a 30-minute ETH sell TWAP this morning, aiming to short 52,956 ETH, with a notional value of approximately $100.4 million. If fully executed, this would have made it the largest ETH short position on Hyperliquid. However, the order was terminated after only about 45 seconds, resulting in just 1,779.67 ETH traded—approximately $3.373 million—with a completion rate of 3.36%. An address with an equity of only $335,000 nearly placed a short order 299 times its capital, then canceled roughly 97% of it within a minute, appearing remarkably like a “mistake.” This does not appear to be the first such “mistake.” Yesterday, this address initiated 39 ETH TWAP orders, 31 of which were for opening short positions—all of which were terminated prematurely. The median duration of these orders was just 16.5 seconds, with a median completion rate of approximately 3.42%. The address previously executed approximately 1,779.67 ETH in actual sales, allowing it to observe: whether Hyperliquid could quickly absorb a single round of roughly 880 ETH, the average slippage incurred, and whether consecutive selling caused a noticeable price decline. This unusual trading behavior suggests two possible strategies: 1. Using exaggerated parent orders to rapidly generate two market slices near the account’s limit—more convenient than manually placing consecutive orders. 2. Using the first and second executions to gauge how large an aggressive sell order the current ETH order book can absorb and to measure real execution slippage. Although these massive orders were repeatedly canceled and replaced, actual trades were substantial. Yesterday, the address accumulated a total short position of 58,200 ETH and subsequently bought them all back, resulting in a combined trading volume of approximately $218 million. The gross profit from this round was about $398,000; after deducting approximately $62,000 in fees, the net profit was around $336,000. As of publication, the address holds only 1,779.67 ETH in short position, valued at approximately $3.374 million, using 10x full-collateral leverage at an average entry price of $1,895.08, with a current unrealized loss of about $1,265. No other active TWAPs or open orders remain in the account. Whether the $100 million short order was truly a “mistake” or part of a consistent strategy remains unconfirmed; however, given yesterday’s 39 similar operations, it clearly does not appear to be a random accidental click.