Bear doubles down on XRP short with $17 million after 80% portfolio loss

A crypto whale known as Gambler has opened a new $17 million short on XRP after losing 80% of his portfolio for shorting the token.

Data from transaction tracking platform Lookonchain on 30 September shows that the XRP bear opened a fresh 20x short on 6.17 million XRP valued at $17.6 million with a liquidation price of $2.9155

The decision to double down on the XRP short has gained the attention of the crypto community, with many wondering what is the reason behind the decision to lose millions.

A major risk

Gambler first opened a new crypto wallet on 26 September according to Lookonchain, and deposited $4.22 million USDC which he later used to buy BTC and XRP.

He then opened a short position for each of the assets: 40x for BTC and 20x for XRP. This was at the time when Bitcoin crashed to $108,000 and XRP traded at $2.71.

Unfortunately for the bear, the market rebounded and Bitcoin made its way back to $112,000 and XRP recovered slightly to $2.85 on 29 September, causing a liquidation amounting to $3.44 million.

The liquidation would have been worse if XRP bounced back as strongly as BTC. Shortly after, he closed the short positions only to reappear with a bigger bet against Ripple’s native token.

If things turn out the way they did in the last episode, Gambler’s $17 million portfolio could liquidate to as low as $2 million based on the trade setup.

What does he know?

Gambler seems very confident about his conviction concerning XRP, which makes many to ask what he knows that the rest of the space doesn’t know.

If he is right, the millions of XRP bulls out there may be at a major risk despite the many bullish predictions concerning the token.