A Crypto Whale Slashed His Ethereum Long—But the Real Danger Got Worse

A closely watched crypto whale cut more than half of his leveraged Ethereum position in a month. The unsettling part is what happened to the trade’s margin for error.

CryptoSlate reviewed public Hyperliquid account data tied by blockchain explorers to machibigbrother.eth. Its August 14 snapshot showed a 2,500 ETH long—down 52.51% from the 5,264 ETH position reported on July 14.

Smaller did not mean safer. At the moment CryptoSlate captured the account, Hyperliquid listed a liquidation price of $1,859.15 while its ETH midpoint stood at $1,881.65.

That was a cushion of just $22.50, or 1.21%. The comparison matters because the account had already removed thousands of ETH in exposure without rebuilding a wide buffer against another market drop.

The trade had already taken damage. CryptoSlate’s review of Hyperliquid fill data found three close-long groups on July 31 totaling 1,708 ETH, with roughly $96,301 in combined negative closed profit and loss.

Compared with the July 14 baseline, the August 14 liquidation price was $102.39 higher even after the visible long had been cut by more than half.

The account’s public trail became even more striking as valuable NFTs were sold at steep losses.

It looks like Machi(@machibigbrother) is really running out of money.

He withdrew only 1,540 $USDC from #Binance.

He had to sell Bored Ape #5715 for just 8.3 $ETH ($15,570), which he bought for 34.17 $ETH 3 years ago, to keep his $ETH long going.

Current position: 2,800… pic.twitter.com/dVTzSyRgS5

— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) August 13, 2026

Lookonchain reported that Bored Ape #5670 sold for 9 ETH after an 84.99 ETH purchase, an 89.4% loss measured in ETH. It later reported Bored Ape #5715 sold for 8.3 ETH after a 34.17 ETH purchase.

Those sales happened alongside the shrinking leveraged position, but there is an important limit to what the public record proves. The available data does not trace the NFT buyers’ payments all the way into the Hyperliquid account, so it would be too strong to say the sales directly funded margin.

What can be seen is pressure from both sides: the ETH exposure dropped sharply, the NFTs realized heavy losses, and the remaining long was still perched close to forced liquidation.

Machi Big Brother’s tracked ETH long shrank 52.5% to 2,500 ETH—but the safety margin got thinner.

At the latest snapshot, ETH sat just $22.50, or 1.21%, above liquidation. The catch: public records don’t prove the three Bored Ape sale proceeds went into margin.…

— CryptoSlate (@CryptoSlate) August 15, 2026

The numbers are snapshots, not a live guarantee. Ethereum’s price, account equity and liquidation threshold can all move quickly, and the position may have changed since CryptoSlate’s observation.

Still, the episode is a clean warning about leverage: reducing a position can limit total exposure without restoring a comfortable safety margin. Converting illiquid collectibles into cash does not change that math by itself.

That near-real-time transparency is why whale positions on Hyperliquid attract so much attention. It lets the market see exposure and liquidation risk as they change, but a public snapshot still cannot reveal every funding source or decision behind an account.

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