Whale dumps 5M $VIRTUAL after massive losses — $8.4M down in two failed bets

A prominent entity in the $VIRTUAL space has vacated their position in the asset, netting a loss of $8.4 million.

The last of the trades went down about six hours ago, when the wallet dumped 5.049 million tokens for around $2.28 million. This makes two major losses for the investor in $VIRTUAL in just a few months.

The trading behavior has caught the attention of on-chain analysts and the wider crypto community. What seemed at first to be a sure bet in a surging token soon morphed into a series of blunders that saw the whale shelling out millions in sunk capital.

First Attempt Ends in $5 Million Loss

The blockchain data dive explains in detail two key transactions leading to this outcome. The first was in January, when the whale made their first entry into $VIRTUAL, yanking up 5.038 million tokens at an average price of $2.76. This trade was a big deal, costing the whale over $13.91 million (the largest single buy amount of the year so far). At the time, $VIRTUAL was very much on everybody’s radar, and the purchase seemed like a towering show of good faith.

Nevertheless, the price could not keep its rising momentum. By the whale reached a liquidity point in early February, their leveraged long position got closed out at a price pegged around $1.76. That decision cashed in about $8.89 million, our best guess for the post-liquidation profit (or lack thereof, really) taken by the whale. The difference between the liquidation price and the price at which they first opened these long positions totals $5.02 million.

Doubling Down Backfires

Instead of backing down after the first defeat, the whale came back into the market. By the end of February, it had purchased yet another 5.049 million $VIRTUAL tokens, this time at a much lower price of $1.12 per token, for a sum total of about $5.66 million. Either the whale truly believes in the long-term, space-faring potential of $VIRTUAL or sees the decline as a short-lived setback.

Regrettably, the cost of $VIRTUAL kept trending downward. Six hours ago, the complete second tranche of tokens was sold at only $0.45 per token. The sale resulted in a sum of $2.28 million, leading to a second incurred loss totaling $3.38 million.

Community Reacts to Whale’s Misfortune

The two trades lost a combined $8.4 million. To have a single wallet incur this much loss on one asset in such a short time is unusual and has become a point of discussion in crypto forums and on social platforms.

Interpretation of these events has divided observers. Some see the trades as a case of overconfidence and poor timing. Others speculate the whale may have had early information about the market or the kind of expectations that never quite worked out. Without any direct communication from the wallet owner, or even a little more context, the decisions made and their logic are pretty hard to puzzle out.

What is clear, however, is that both transactions were conducted in substantial, high-conviction lots with no signs of gradual accumulation or thoughtful exit planning. This manner of trading, while occasionally rewarding in a swiftly ascending market, offers little wiggle room or contingency planning for an investor when prices start heading in the opposite direction.

Market Impact and Lessons Learned

The sell-off by this whale is also being observed for its effects on the market at large. $VIRTUAL is already in freefall, having bounced off the local low of $0.62 to reach $1.20 before an even sharper drop pushed it to a price of $0.38. That’s not much of a price uptick, and with a whale moving the other direction—out of the $VIRTUAL market—it’s not hard to see the potential for more immediate downside across the board.

Seamlessly restructured by functions. json (with my slight edits) to mirror the original text more closely.

$VIRTUAL is now under a watchful investor and trading eye to judge how it will respond in the next few days. The whale’s exit might just help to ease some overhead resistance—but it, and they, have to be replaced with some renewed ribbon of confidence that ties together this project.

This episode emphasizes the danger of aggressive trading in the crypto space. Even very wealthy investors can lose it all if market timing and sentiment change quickly enough. The saga of this whale’s near-instant losses in back-to-back major trades serves as yet another reminder of how rapidly fortunes can be made and, more importantly, lost in the digital asset world.

Disclosure: This is not trading or investment advice. Always do your research before buying any cryptocurrency or investing in any services.

Follow us on Twitter @themerklehash to stay updated with the latest Crypto, NFT, AI, Cybersecurity, and Metaverse news!