A crypto whale bet $368 million against bitcoin, already raking in $2 million in profits despite enormous risk ahead of crucial Fed decisions this week.

On March 15, 2025, a large crypto investor, commonly referred to as a “whale” in the industry jargon, opened an exceptionally large short position on bitcoin

A large crypto investor, known as a “whale” in industry jargon, has opened a huge short position on Bitcoin, contributing to a drop in its value.

The investor opened an exceptionally large short position on March 15 at around $84,043 with a 40x leverage, which translates to over 4,442 BTC for a total value exceeding $368 million. To be precise, the 40x leverage indicates that the investor has used approximately $9.2 million of their own capital and borrowed the remaining funds to amplify their position.

This strategy multiplies potential gains but also exposes them to catastrophic losses in the event of a market reversal. The critical threshold for this position is at $85,592 — if the price of bitcoin rises above this limit, the position would be fully liquidated, resulting in substantial losses.

According to Hypurrscan, this operation has already generated more than $2 million in unrealized profits. However, maintaining this position has cost its holder over $200,000 in funding fees.

These types of strategies are not uncommon in the crypto ecosystem. In early March, a trader also made a spectacular gain of $68 million from a short position on Ether with an even higher leverage of 50x.

A decisive week for the crypto market

This bet comes at a strategic moment, just before the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting scheduled for March 19. This week promises to be crucial with several major macroeconomic releases that could strongly influence investor appetite for risky assets like bitcoin.

According to Ryan Lee, chief analyst at Bitget Research, bitcoin will need to maintain a weekly close above $81,000 to avoid bearish volatility ahead of the FOMC meeting. He stated to Cointelegraph:The key level to watch for the weekly close is the range of $81,000. Holding above this level would signal resilience, but if we see a drop below $76,000, it could trigger further selling pressure in the short term.

The markets currently anticipate a 98% probability that the U.S. Federal Reserve will keep interest rates unchanged, according to the latest estimates from the CME Group’s FedWatch tool.

Despite this, any comments by the Fed chair on the economic outlook and the future trajectory of rates could significantly impact the crypto market.

The current volatility of bitcoin is also fueled by the growing macroeconomic uncertainty regarding international tariffs, an additional factor that investors are closely monitoring.