$130M Liquidated in XPL Futures on Hyperliquid Ahead of Plasma Token Launch

The futures market for Plasma’s unreleased XPL token on decentralized exchange Hyperliquid experienced a dramatic spike in volatility overnight, with open interest plummeting from $160 million to just $30 million in a matter of minutes.

The sudden move, which wiped out more than 80% of outstanding positions, effectively cleared the sell-side of the order book and triggered widespread auto-deleveraging across the market.

According to reports, a single trader’s actions were largely responsible for the cascade. Attempting to go long tens of millions of dollars in XPL, the trader’s move drove the token’s price up to $1.80—more than a 200% increase within two minutes—forcing a wave of forced liquidations.

Some traders suffered heavy losses. One user, who attempted to hedge their XPL position with 1x leverage, reported losing $1.4 million after the price was “manipulated.” Another account, StableDruid, noted their entire 50% XPL allocation was wiped out despite using no leverage.

Others capitalized on the volatility. A wallet reportedly netted $16 million in profits within a minute of partially unwinding its position, still holding over 15 million XPL valued at $10 million. Meanwhile, trader Techno_Revenant closed a $20 million long via auto-deleveraging, generating nearly $25 million in gains.

The event occurred just days before the official launch of Plasma’s XPL token. Plasma, a stablecoin-focused blockchain backed by Founders Fund, Framework Ventures, and Bitfinex, recently completed a $250 million USDT yield program on Binance in under an hour, highlighting strong market interest ahead of the token’s debut.