Crypto trader James Wynn loses $25 million on Bitcoin leveraged bet

James Wynn, a leveraged crypto trader, was liquidated of nearly 240 Bitcoin (CRYPTO:BTC) valued at approximately $25 million after betting on a price increase using 40x leverage.

On June 4, onchain analytics platform Lookonchain reported that Wynn had manually closed part of his position to lower the liquidation price.

Despite the liquidation, Wynn still held around 770 Bitcoin worth about $80.5 million at a liquidation price near $104,035.

Data from Hypurrscan shows Wynn currently faces an unrealised loss close to $1 million on his leveraged Bitcoin position.

Following the liquidation, Wynn claimed on social media that the market was being manipulated against him.

He also requested donations to support his efforts to expose alleged market manipulation.

Wynn gained attention for making large, high-leverage bets on Bitcoin through the Hyperliquid trading platform, where his positions are publicly visible.

On May 24, Wynn initiated a $1.25 billion long position on Bitcoin with 40x leverage after suffering a $29 million loss the previous day.

The next day, he closed that long position and opened a $110 million short position.

By May 29, Lookonchain and Arkham Intelligence reported that Wynn had lost $100 million over the week.

Undeterred, Wynn started a second $100 million leveraged long position earlier this week.

In response to such market volatility, Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao proposed creating a dark pool perpetual swap decentralised exchange (DEX) to reduce market manipulation.

Zhao explained that the transparency of current DEXs allows real-time order visibility, leading to front-running and slippage issues, especially on perpetual DEXs where liquidations occur.

Dark pools, common in traditional finance, offer liquidity and anonymity to institutional investors by keeping trades private from retail participants.

While dark pools can reduce trading costs, they also raise concerns over conflicts of interest due to limited transparency.

At the time of reporting, the Bitcoin (BTC) price was $104,571.