From a $44 million profit to a $30 million loss, Machi Big Brother's ETH trading experience is an epic rout under high leverage. At 25x leverage, a mere 4% drop in asset price is enough to wipe out all margin. However, facing continuous losses, he did not take profit and exit, but instead added 210,000 USDC to increase his position, firmly believing that Ethereum was severely undervalued. This belief ultimately failed to withstand the market's volatility, and by January 2023, his cumulative losses had reached $71 million.
HyperLiquid, as a decentralized derivatives platform, has its on-chain transparency as a double-edged sword—every fund inflow and outflow, every liquidation is publicly visible. This transparency leaves no room for traders' mistakes and amplifies the impact of market sentiment. In February 2026, global crypto exchanges saw over 158,000 liquidations in a single day, with Ethereum-related positions accounting for a staggering $205 million, nearly one-third of the total liquidations that day.
Machi's case reveals a crucial truth: in the crypto derivatives market, even if the trend judgment is completely correct, a lack of risk control, position management, and patience can still lead to instant liquidation. Thin liquidity coupled with a forced liquidation mechanism is enough to shatter even the most determined bulls in the face of volatility. Successful traders rely not only on conviction but also on discipline, timing, and a respect for leverage. This costly lesson ultimately taught the market a harsh but true lesson: in the face of leverage, being right is never enough; prudence is the only way out.