Memecoin POPCAT experienced a significant downturn on Wednesday following a major manipulation event on Hyperliquid (HYPE), one of the leading decentralized exchanges in the cryptocurrency market.
The trader withdrew $3 million in USDC from the OKX exchange and distributed the funds across 19 different wallets on Hyperliquid. Subsequently, they initiated sizable long positions on POPCAT, accumulating total exposure estimated between $20 million and $30 million.
However, the situation took a swift turn when the trader removed the buy wall without warning, leading to an instantaneous collapse in the price of POPCAT. This shift resulted in the liquidation of all the long positions taken by traders.
The community has expressed skepticism regarding the circumstances surrounding this incident, with many suggesting it may not have been a random liquidation.
This incident marks the third major market disruption on Hyperliquid in 2025, raising serious questions about the exchange’s approach to handling liquidity concentration and its systemic risk management practices, as noted by Hanzo in his analysis.
Following the manipulation, the POPCAT memecoin saw a steep decline of approximately 43%, dropping from $0.21 to $0.12, with total liquidations reaching around $63 million.
Featured image from DALL-E, chart from TradingView.com
