{"id":9478,"date":"2026-08-21T22:09:29","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T19:09:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/handoli.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/21\/bitcoin-short-seller-staged-a-6-million-liquidation\/"},"modified":"2026-08-21T22:09:29","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T19:09:29","slug":"bitcoin-short-seller-staged-a-6-million-liquidation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/handoli.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/21\/bitcoin-short-seller-staged-a-6-million-liquidation\/","title":{"rendered":"Bitcoin short-seller staged a $6 million liquidation"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Yesterday, an influencer pretended to suffer a $6 million short liquidation on bitcoin (BTC) to attract followers and clout. The stunt fizzled after some basic fact-checking.<\/p>\n

Crypto trader Laanie posted fake evidence of a leveraged wipeout long enough to attract a few hundred thousand views, then deleted the claim a few hours later.<\/p>\n

The engagement farmer then hosted<\/a> a social audio space on X to discuss the non-existent trade, which attracted over a thousand attendees amidst a particularly bullish day for crypto markets.<\/p>\n

Indeed, BTC was enjoying one of its steepest, single day gains of the year, rallying from $64,000 to $75,000 in under 24 hours.<\/p>\n

A proposed Community Note on X challenged<\/a> the $6 million loss. It explained that the trading display Laanie shared had Bybit\u2019s Demo mode enabled, a subtle yet unmistakable label for the crypto exchange\u2019s simulated trading view.<\/p>\n

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in real trading account bybit shows spot future and other trading options at top<\/p>\n

while in demo account there isn\u2019t any option and fake people just crop those screenshots. <\/p>\n

don’t fall for scams. https:\/\/t.co\/4NsdMyyvkY<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/s4JEHdw48T<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 N\u026aFFY (@niffywontmiss) August 20, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

One skeptic explained<\/a> the difference between a real Bybit trading account and Laanie\u2019s paper money account. Another trader noted that Laanie\u2019s screenshots cropped out the webpage tab, indicating their use of Bybit\u2019s Demo mode.<\/p>\n

The intraday, 17% rally in BTC made the claim plausible at first glance, especially due to Bybit\u2019s large leverage offerings that would have amplified losses for short-sellers.<\/p>\n

As unsophisticated observers happily engaged with the post and reposted across social media for clout, the engagement farmer won the prize of attention.<\/p>\n

This short bitcoin liquidation never happened<\/h2>\n

Replies<\/a> to Laanie\u2019s follow-up post called the trader a LARPer, short for Live Action Role Player. Another skeptic wrote<\/a> that Laanie is a \u201cliar with a demo account.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018QE Lite,\u2019 a multi-billion dollar expansion of US Treasury buybacks, plus positive BTC commentary from Donald Trump\u2019s crypto meeting in Washington DC, drove<\/a> the rally on August 19 and the dramatic follow-through yesterday.<\/p>\n

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Ansem\u2019s new website branded \u2018vibe-coded Pump Fun wrapper\u2019 by dev<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Read more: Jim Chanos is calling for another MSTR short<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Bybit\u2019s Demo<\/a> Trading feature auto-creates a simulated account for every user. Its demo mode seeds all customers with a fixed portfolio of virtual assets. Demo mode traders can adjust the funds in that account and flip to live trading with a single toggle.<\/p>\n

A large enough leveraged position inside that sandbox produces the same liquidation math and shareable screenshot as a genuine trade. However, the underlying capital never exists, and trades never fill.<\/p>\n

Got a tip? Send us an email securely via\u00a0Protos Leaks<\/em><\/a>. For more informed news and investigations, follow us on\u00a0X<\/a>,\u00a0Bluesky<\/em><\/a>, and\u00a0Google News<\/em><\/a>, or subscribe to our\u00a0YouTube<\/em><\/a>\u00a0channel.<\/em><\/p>\n

The post Bitcoin short-seller staged a $6 million liquidation<\/a> appeared first on Protos<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday, an influencer pretended to suffer a $6 million short liquidation on bitcoin (BTC) to attract followers and clout. The stunt fizzled after some basic fact-checking. Crypto trader Laanie posted fake evidence of a leveraged wipeout long enough to attract a few hundred thousand views, then deleted the claim a few hours later. The engagement […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9479,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[147],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-invest"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/handoli.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/handoli.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/handoli.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/handoli.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/handoli.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9478"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/handoli.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9478\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/handoli.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/handoli.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/handoli.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/handoli.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}