Most top NEAR traders on Hyperliquid hold short positions as the rally squeezes bears

Most top traders on Hyperliquid are betting against the market. On NEAR, that bet has been expensive.

The largest NEAR short on the platform is sitting on roughly $13 million in unrealized losses. The largest long is up $17.35 million.

The two whales at the top of the board

As of September 30, 2026, the top NEAR short carried a notional value of approximately $22.78 million. It was using 3x leverage and showed unrealized losses of about $12.83 million.

The biggest bull tells the opposite story. The leading long had a notional value of approximately $30.87 million on 10x leverage, according to the research data. Its unrealized gains were estimated between $17.13 million and $17.55 million.

The squeeze on bears goes beyond a single wallet. Two addresses, 0xfe7c… and 0xdd53…, together held about 4.31 million NEAR in short positions. As of September 27, their combined unrealized losses exceeded $25 million, with each facing losses above $12 million.

What drove the move

The pain for shorts traces back to one number: price. NEAR climbed from the low-$2 range to approximately $5.37-$5.39 over the course of September.

Activity followed the price. NEAR perpetual open interest reached approximately $345 million during the September 23-30 period.

Hyperliquid’s rollout of NEAR/USDC spot markets coincided with a notable pickup in trading activity, and the resulting conditions rewarded traders positioned on the long side.

Shorts outnumber, longs outweigh

Across Hyperliquid as a whole, whale data showed a net short bias, with shorts accounting for 53.33% of open notional.

Among NEAR whales specifically, longs totaled $80.43 million against $59.16 million in shorts. So while many of the platform’s top traders lean bearish, the heaviest money on NEAR is leaning the other way.

Background: why Hyperliquid positioning gets watched

Hyperliquid is a venue for perpetual futures, which are derivatives that let traders bet on price without an expiry date. Positions and wallet addresses on the platform can be tracked publicly, which is why whale moves there attract so much attention.

The addition of spot NEAR/USDC trading gave the token another avenue on the platform. According to the research data, that development helped fuel the surge in activity seen through September.

What this means for traders

The most immediate risk sits with the shorts. Positions carrying losses of $12 million or more are under real pressure, and new shorts were still being opened in real time as of late September.

The top long runs 10x leverage, which means even a modest pullback from the $5.37-$5.39 range could erase a meaningful chunk of those paper gains.

The $345 million in open interest is the figure to watch. Elevated open interest, alongside elevated funding conditions, tends to set the stage for volatility, because many participants are leveraged in both directions at once.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Vivian Nguyen. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.