Bitcoin whales have turned net short for the first time since March on Hyperliquid.

Glassnode indicates that as Bitcoin traded around $80,000, the Bitcoin whales on Hyperliquid have for the first time since March turned net short, reversing their previous bullish positions.

• According to Glassnode, the whales on Hyperliquid shifted from being net long to net short last week.
• The analysis firm also suggested that the market could experience a deeper correction, or there might be a squeeze from short sellers.
• Hyperliquid Hourly payment of funding rates, with the rate being positive. Long positions pay to short positions.
• Glassnode Previous studies placed the main liquidation range around $85,000 and $87,000.

In a post on October 27th, Glassnode stated that the large-trader Hyperliquid they were tracking had previously established long positions near the bottom of Bitcoin, but changed direction last week.

The institution stated that this group has turned net short "for the first time since March." Their judgment leaves two possibilities: these traders may be preparing for further declines, or they may have suffered losses during a Bitcoin rebound and been forced to cover their short positions.

Bitcoin whales reverse their previous bullish positions

In this post, Glassnode believes that the previous long trading opportunities were well timed, but did not interpret the latest bearish positions as a confirmation of an inevitable price decline. The question raised by this institution is whether these traders are anticipating a deeper pullback, or whether they will be forced to close their positions during a rebound.

A previous study by the same analysis firm indicated that there were large leveraged positions in the market. In a report titled “Swept and Refilled” released on October 21, it was noted that after clearing a range around $80,000 on October 15, the two largest model liquidation ranges were around $85,000 and $87,000.

The report states that if shorts are forced to close their positions, prices could accelerate upward to $87,000; however, sellers have placed a large number of spot sell orders between $86,500 and $87,500. In their heat map, there is still a clearing zone around $79,600 in the lower part of the market.

Glassnode In that report, the average cost for investors holding tokens for 6 to 12 months was estimated at approximately $86,700. The institution also estimated that the True Market Mean, which serves as a benchmark for the average cost of active investors, is around $77,600.

The funding fee rate for Hyperliquid is settled on an hourly basis.

The documentation for Hyperliquid describes the funding rate as a payment between the traders on both sides of the perpetual contract. The exchange states that this mechanism helps to bring the price of the perpetual contract closer to the spot price of the underlying asset, with funds being transferred between long and short positions.

According to the platform rules, when the funding rate is positive, the long position pays to the short position; when the funding rate is negative, the payment direction is reversed, with the short position paying to the long position. Hyperliquid The funding rate is settled once per hour, although the published calculation method is based on an 8-hour cycle.

The document shows that the interest rate component of the funding fee is 0.01% every 8 hours, which is equivalent to 0.00125% per hour. The other part is a premium that varies depending on the difference between the perpetual market price and the spot oracle price; therefore, the final payment amount cannot be determined solely by the interest rate component.

In the premium calculation, Hyperliquid samples the price every 5 seconds and takes an average of the observations within one hour. The rule stipulates that one-eighth of the calculated 8-hour funding rate is to be paid per hour.

Hyperliquid also indicates that verifiers will use the weighted median of spot prices from centralized exchanges to calculate the price of the oracle, with the weights determined by the liquidity of each exchange.

Previously, whale transfers included 9,458 BTC of Wintermute.

Before the latest derivatives position report, large-scale wallet activities had already drawn attention. Previously, crypto.news reported that since October 1st, Lookonchain had tracked Wintermute extracting 9,458 BTC to 40 newly created wallets, valued at $771.5 million at that time's price.

Lookonchain describes these transfers as increases in holdings. This transaction covers several weeks, but it has not been confirmed how many investors control these receiving addresses, nor has their purchase cost been stated.

Previous reports also mentioned that in a snapshot in September, Onchain Lens attributed $126.25 million in Hyperliquid short positions held by an address related to Wintermute to that address. Of this amount, Ethereum accounted for $46.92 million, followed by $11.3 million from Solana and $10.03 million from HYPE.

At that time, Wintermute did not publicly confirm the ownership of that address, nor did it explain these positions. Reports indicate that market makers could use perpetual contracts to hedge spot positions, options, customer transactions, or exposures held on other exchanges.

Bitcoin analysts link the rebound conditions to spot demand

In the assessment of Bitcoin's support level for October on October 1st, Bitget Wallet, the head of research for Lacie Zhang, regarded $82,000 as the downside threshold and $87,500 as the trigger point for a rebound. Her prediction is that Bitcoin will fluctuate between $78,000 and $95,000, assuming that demand can withstand inflation and interest rate risks.

The bullish scenario for Zhang requires Bitcoin to hold above $82,000 and re-establish itself above $87,500 before there is a possibility of further rise to $95,000. She stated that if the price continues to fall below $80,000, her seasonal bullish judgment will be invalidated.

Her analysis compares institutional buying orders with the profit-taking of long-term holders, as well as the selling orders of miners. Zhang states that institutional demand can support prices, but it cannot guarantee a rise in October; ViaBTC, the chief analyst Jeff Ko, regards US employment and inflation data as important market inputs.

A subsequent economic agenda for the United States was released, indicating that the Federal Reserve will announce its policy decisions on October 28th, and on October 29th, it will release data on personal income and expenditures for September as well as the preliminary figures for the third quarter GDP. These two economic analyses are scheduled to be released at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time.

The same schedule also lists the release of the minutes from the October policy meeting on November 18th, as well as the Federal Reserve's last meeting for 2026 to be held from December 8th to 9th.