The liquidation record on the screen made me feel a bit suffocated — a $14.14 million position was completely wiped out within an hour. I stared at the Bitcoin hourly chart, looked at it repeatedly, and this feeling resembled a prelude to a larger, more violent shakeout.

Here's what happened. Shortly after the market opened yesterday afternoon, a top-tier whale was liquidated in a short-term rally where BTC surged 3%, using 40x leverage on a short position. The total liquidation exceeded $17.6 million. More painfully, after this guy was liquidated, he didn't pause at all; he immediately turned around and threw down a new short position worth $7.1 million with the same 40x leverage. This kind of playstyle reminds me of a similar scene on the night before last year's crash.

The truly worth pondering part is here. Data shows that this address has been the backbone of BTC shorts on the platform since December 19, and after holding for a week, it faced a massive liquidation today. 160 BTC were directly wiped out by the market.

But what alarmed me the most wasn't the liquidation itself, but his subsequent reaction — losing means immediately trying to make it back. It's like a gambler who, after losing big, goes all-in to get even. When extreme emotions appear, the market often brews a turning point. Such aggressive shorts might just be indicating something.

From a fundamental perspective, the whale's liquidation reflects the current fragility of the short positions. This signal deserves serious attention from traders.