Machi Big Brother has returned to Ethereum markets with one of his most aggressive trades yet. On January 12, the high-profile crypto whale re-opened a $34 million leveraged ETH long on Hyperliquid.
The position moved against him almost immediately, leaving the trade down roughly $325,000 within hours. However, the bigger picture looks worse. His Hyperliquid account now sits $22.5 million in cumulative losses and more than $67 million below its peak equity, according to on-chain tracking.
A Pattern of High-Leverage Conviction
This marks Machi’s first major re-entry since a wave of forced liquidations in December wiped out several of his Ethereum longs.
Machi Big Brother is the crypto pseudonym of Jeffrey (Jeff) Huang, a high-profile trader, on-chain whale, and controversial figure in the crypto community.
Machi’s latest bet follows months of extreme risk-taking. In November and December, he built large ETH longs ranging from $20 million to more than $25 million in notional exposure, often using 15x to 25x leverage.
SponsoredThose positions collapsed during ETH’s pullback from the $3,300 area.
Ethereum Price Sits at a Critical Level
Machi’s timing comes as Ethereum trades in a fragile zone.
SponsoredETH currently hovers around the $3,000–$3,100 range, after failing to break resistance near $3,300 earlier this month.
Over the past few weeks, price action has turned sideways as ETF outflows and fading Fed rate-cut expectations weigh on crypto markets.
At the same time, ETH supply on exchanges remains near multi-year lows, and staking continues to lock up large amounts of coins.
That creates a tight market structure, where sharp moves can happen quickly in either direction.
SponsoredStill, sentiment remains cautious. Futures funding has turned negative at times, and on-chain data shows traders hedging rather than building fresh longs.
What Machi Is Really Betting On
Machi’s new position signals a high-conviction bet that Ethereum will hold above $3,000 and rebound toward the $3,300–$3,500 zone.
But his leverage leaves little margin for error. With less than $2 million backing a $34 million position, a single-digit percentage drop in ETH could trigger another liquidation.
For markets, his trade acts less as a bullish signal and more as a stress test of Ethereum’s current price floor.