On July 27, a sudden pre-market trade on a South Korean exchange sent the SK Hynix perpetual contract price tumbling nearly 18% within minutes, triggering a liquidation storm that wiped out $57.4 million in long positions across 960 accounts on Hyperliquid. The price plunged from $1,127.90 to $917.25 after the trade passed through the oracle system, sparking one of the most dramatic liquidation cascades seen recently.
The fallout was severe for many traders holding leveraged long positions, with barely any time to react before positions were forcibly closed. However, not everyone faced losses. One trader, known as Stately, had positioned short ahead of the crash and secured a realized profit of $2.2 million after an auto-deleveraging mechanism automatically reduced part of his short during the liquidation event.
Stately’s gains don’t stop there. The trader still carries an open short position valued at $13.36 million, which currently holds $2.1 million in unrealized profits. Meanwhile, Trade.xyz, the platform operating under Hyperliquid’s HIP-3 framework, confirmed their oracle functioned as intended and announced a one-time discretionary decision to cover liquidation losses. Affected accounts can expect distributions within days, pending eligibility criteria that have yet to be disclosed.
