Trader 'qwatio' suffers over $3.6M losses shorting XRP as token rebounds

A crypto trader betting on XRP’s price downturn has lost over $3 million during a market rebound that saw the token trace its way to $2.91 on Monday evening.

According to blockchain analytics platform Lookonchain, a trader known on X by the pseudonym qwatio took an aggressive short position yesterday that was partially liquidated after the rally, resulting in a $3.6 million loss.

According to Hypercan’s data, the trader was involved in multiple highly leveraged wagers that were placed against the price of XRP. At its height, his short token trades exposed him to roughly $14 million, with leverage ratios reaching 20–40 times the original investment.

At the time of his liquidation, qwatio’s perpetual equity stood at just $618,687, against a total position value exceeding $14.3 million, resulting in a leverage ratio of 23.18x. Unrealized losses on the account were recorded at $145,338, with an overstretched collateral margin usage at 115.92%.

Trader liquidated after XRP’s brief market rebound

According to screenshots of the account’s address shared by Lookonchain, the trader has made a combined profit and loss volume decline over September, with overall PnL dipping to negative $3.6 million. 100% of the trader’s exposure was concentrated in shorting XRP. 

At the time, nearly 4.97 million XRP had been borrowed for shorting, valued at $14.34 million. The entry price averaged $2.8518, but the market price shot up fast to $2.8804, placing the position in further deficit.

On Monday at around 22:15 UTC, a large market order closed one of qwatio’s short positions, liquidating 1,244,729 XRP at $2.9154 per token. That single order represented a trade value of more than $3.6 million in USDC, with a fee exceeding $1,089. 

The closed profit-and-loss line showed a direct hit of $83,223. Earlier trades throughout the day had repeatedly opened smaller short positions around $2.84 to $2.85, with many of these recording incremental negative results.

Lookonchain had reported prior to the incident that qwatio had been on a losing streak in the days leading up to Monday’s liquidation. In the morning, the trader was reported to have closed earlier short positions in both Bitcoin and XRP, counting losses north of $3.4 million. 

Undeterred by the red in his portfolio, he quickly reopened another massive short, this time borrowing 6.17 million XRP valued at $17.6 million. That position carried a liquidation price of $2.9155, almost exactly the level where Monday evening’s rally forced a partial closure.

The trading spree was followed by another episode on September 26, when qwatio set up a new wallet labeled “0x9018” and returned to the derivatives platform Hyperliquid with 4.22 million USDC. 

Records show he used the capital to short 1,366.67 BTC, valued at $150 million with 40x leverage, alongside 2.78 million XRP worth $7.7 million at 20x leverage. Both trades went against him, resulting in another $1.2 million loss. His Bitcoin liquidation threshold was $110,280, while for XRP was $3.0665.

Trader places another 20x leveraged cross bet on Ripple’s downfall

Even in the face of heavy losses, qwatio has opened a new position by borrowing 555,555 XRP, worth approximately $1.58 million, to short XRP at an entry price of $2.851 per token. He applied a 20x cross leverage carrying an exposure equivalent to $15.78 million, risking his full account margin of $822,624.

At the time of this publication, XRP’s price consolidated at around $2.8415, a slight dip that has placed the position in unrealized gains of $55,900. Still, the liquidation price for this short was set at $2.916, leaving just a 2.6% margin for error before his account could have been totally wiped out in liquidations. 

qwatio short bet on Ripple. Source: Hyperscan

A small upward move of around $0.07 from the market level at 10 AM UTC would have been enough to trigger closure of the entire account, but XRP has stumbled down 0.9% since. If XRP dropped to $2.50, the trader would gain roughly $1.87 million, a 23% return to help him recover from the previous losses. 

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