On July 13, 2025, Arkham identified address 0x7da holding the largest on-chain short position in PUMP tokens, valued at $8.5 million on Hyperliquid, per Coinlive.me. This follows Pump.fun’s $600 million ICO, which sold 150 billion PUMP tokens at $0.004 each, raising $500 million in 12 minutes from 189 accounts, per Binance Blogger.
The short, with an unrealized loss of $1.32 million, risks liquidation if PUMP’s market cap hits $8.5 billion, per posts on X. This bearish move, part of $11 million in Hyperliquid shorts, reflects skepticism about Pump.fun’s $4 billion FDV, per Cryptopolitan.
According to CryptoTimes, the PUMP-USD permanent pair on Hyperliquid, which was introduced on July 9, 2025, witnessed $40 million in 24-hour trading volume. PUMP peaked at $0.015 before settling at $0.0055, which was 37.5% more than its initial coin offering price. According to Coinlive.me, Hyperliquid’s hyperps contracts allow low-leverage (3x) trading of unlaunched tokens while lowering the danger of manipulation by employing an 8-hour moving average for funding rates.
However, high funding rates (1,100% annualized for shorts) and whale activity, including a $4 million USDC short by address 0xAc72 at $0.00504, signal hedging against ICO allocations, per TradingView. Volatility increased by $12 billion after Binance’s PUMP perpetual listing on July 10.
Critics highlight Pump.fun’s challenges, with 98% of its tokens flagged for suspicious activity, drawing comparisons to past ICO rug pulls, per Coinlive.me. The platform, generating $700 million in revenue from 1% trading fees and token creation, faces competition from LetsBonk.fun, per Binance Blogger. The $11 million in Hyperliquid shorts, including 0x7da’s position, suggests institutional doubt about PUMP’s post-ICO performance, per AInvest.
While Pump.fun drives Solana’s meme coin boom, with 11 million tokens minted and $4.5 billion in market cap, per Blockworks, the short positions may pressure Solana’s ecosystem if PUMP corrects, though direct impacts on ETH or BTC remain speculative.
The PUMP ICO’s rapid sell-out reflects hype, but whale shorts and high funding rates signal potential downside. Analysts like Matthew Nay suggest PUMP’s $0.0054 pre-market price on Hyperliquid is fair, but selling pressure from a possible airdrop could cap gains, per Decrypt. Regulatory scrutiny, similar to past DeFi controversies, looms due to Pump.fun’s scale and fraud concerns, per Coinlive.me.
Investors should monitor PUMP’s $0.005 support and Hyperliquid funding rates via Coinlive.me or posts on X. A BTC or SOL correction could exacerbate PUMP volatility, per CryptoNews. Pump.fun’s long-term viability depends on addressing fraud and competition while leveraging Solana’s low-friction ecosystem.
