It is Wednesday, Jan. 14, and the crypto markets are reacting to three major events: a Shiba Inu billionaire just flooded Robinhood with 145 billion tokens, a trader who is famous for nuking 255 BTC in December has switched back to short mode after betting $30 million on XRP and Bitcoin’s breakout to $96,000 led to a 10-to-1 liquidation imbalance, causing short sellers to lose a lot.
TL;DR
- 145.2 billion SHIB worth $1.27 million sent to Robinhood, hinting at retail ramp or stealth exit.
- XRP whale closes $413 million longs, flips short on BTC, ETH, SOL — but XRP left untouched.
- Bitcoin hits $96,000, triggers $291.8 million liquidations with 942% short-side imbalance.
Robinhood sees 145,214,184,927 Shiba Inu (SHIB) tsunami
One of the biggest crypto retail platforms just got hit with a SHIB flood. According to Arkham, wallet “f7bB” unloaded 145.2 billion SHIB — worth over $1.27 million — into Robinhood’s hot wallet less than 14 hours ago. Then, a second transaction of 1.09 million WLFI worth about $194,000 went to the same place, which suggests that it was an organized sale and not just a random decision.
The wallet’s other holdings still have 11.85 billion SHIB equal to $104,000, which shows the full position could have been a lot bigger. It is interesting that the SHIB price barely moved after the transfer, which makes us think two things: either someone’s holding these tokens for a sale later, or they are getting ready to do some kind of internal staking program or OTC onboarding for a market maker.
In the meantime, the Shiba Inu coin is currently stabilizing under the $0.000009 ceiling. If the meme coin breaks above that level, be ready for a quick move to $0.00001102. But if the Robinhood influx ends up hitting the open market — either via user sales or internal hedging — a fakeout rejection could drag SHIB back to $0.0000076.
If the transfer was actually retail offloading, it could be the start of a meme rotation cycle with Robinhood in charge. But if it was an institutional one, Shiba Inu could face selling pressure disguised as inflow volume.
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$30 million XRP trader betting on crash
The “255 BTC” whale is back, and he is ready to rumble, according to Lookonchain. After making over $413 million in long trades on BTC, ETH, SOL and XRP, the well-known Hyperliquid whale has gone short again, taking a fresh $35 million position. This comes just weeks after going all-in on XRP with $30 million and 20x leverage.
The latest move seems to confirm that the December-to-January long campaign was a planned trap: draw in the crowd, make a profit, then go back and sell everything. It is interesting that the new short positions exclude XRP, which suggests one of two things: either the whale is expecting a surprise catalyst for XRP that could boost the price, or they have lost faith in XRP’s ability to create volatility.
It is also worth mentioning that his previous XRP entry at $2.1027 is just slightly above the current price, which makes the small gain seem like a stopout rather than a clean profit exit. Either way, the whale’s trading pattern now looks more like a hedge fund scalper than a directional bull or bear. His actions suggest that he is more interested in making a quick profit than in long-term strategy.
Watch for any sudden inflow into Hyperliquid’s perpetuals around XRP. If this trader reengages there, it could signal front-running of insider catalyst data or pre-positioning ahead of ETF movement, Clarity Act revisions or Fed liquidity shifts.
Bitcoin prints 1,000% liquidation imbalance as BTC price rockets
Bitcoin’s price shooting up past $96,000 might have looked smooth on the surface, but behind the scenes, it was a total disaster — for short sellers. According to CoinGlass, $291.86 million in futures were liquidated within 24 hours — $263.85 million of that in short positions alone. Longs took a small $28 million hit, creating a 942% liquidation imbalance that implies a violent short squeeze, instead of a natural grind-up.
This liquidation storm hit its peak between 2:00 and 3:00 a.m. UTC, right around the time BTC crossed the $95,000 level. The biggest single trade was over $9 million. The rekt ratio is now at 3.09x the seven-day average, so this event is in the “extreme” category.
Right now, BTC is up 10% this year, and it is testing some psychological levels. The $100,000 target is back on track, but the real number to keep an eye on is $107,154, which is the high point from October 2025. If shorts reenter and get squeezed again, we could see a slingshot scenario, where BTC bursts through six figures in one session.
Controversially, this move might even lead to some ETF rebalancing risks. If spot BTC ETFs start getting a lot of inflows again in the middle of the month, we might see a March-style overextension followed by a pullback. The current risk is not just about the verticality; it is that open interest is maxed out and whales are playing ping-pong with retail stops.
If the $92,000 breaks, expect a cascading liquidation back to $87,500. But as long as shorts are crowded, pain gets higher.
Crypto market snapshot
Whales are moving their money around super quickly, dumping billions of tokens, flipping their bias midweek and making markets reactive. It looked like a SHIB inflow, but it might be Robinhood getting ready to surprise meme coin holders. What seemed like an XRP moonshot just turned out to be a short setup.
And Bitcoin? It is not like climbing anymore but more like hunting stops.
Key levels to watch:
Shiba Inu (SHIB): Pressing $0.000009 with breakout opening room to $0.00001102, but dipping below $0.000008 invites $0.0000071 retest.
XRP: Flat at $2.13 as $2 marks the pivot — lose it, and $1.86 follows fast.
Bitcoin (BTC): Another squeeze fuel builds toward $107,000, but watch out $92,000 if things break down.
January comes as a real chess match between the big players, market makers and news algorithms. Be ready for more wild market swings around key economic dates.
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