Machi’s Wild Ride: Is He the Last Cowboy in the Crypto Saloon?

by

The wind howled through the digital plains on the 17th of February 2026, carrying with it the stench of fear and the whisper of collapsing dreams. Bitcoin, once the mighty stallion of the crypto range, stumbled, its weakness spreading like a contagion across the land. Risk appetite, that fickle varmint, scattered as Open Interest drained from Bitcoin and Ethereum, leaving price momentum to wither like a tumbleweed in the desert sun.

BTC’s OI, once a towering giant at over $12B in late January, shriveled to a mere $7.6B as its price tumbled from the lofty $80Ks to the dusty $60Ks. Ethereum, ever the faithful sidekick, mirrored its decline, a sad echo in the vast emptiness.

Meanwhile, in a corner of the saloon, HYPE’s Open Interest swelled from $1.19B to $1.32B, its price hovering around $29. Leverage, that double-edged blade, hadn’t disappeared-it had just found a new home, a speculative pocket where dreams and delusions mingled like whiskey and gunpowder.

Was this the calculated move of a seasoned gunslinger or the reckless gamble of a man with nothing left to lose? The drama, thick as a fog on the Mississippi, swirled around one figure: Machi Big Brother.

Machi Doubles Down: $16M+ on the Line

Jeffrey Huang, the man they called Machi Big Brother, had seen better days. $27.5 million in losses over 20 days on Hyperliquid, 145 liquidations since October 2025-most men would’ve hung up their hats. But not Machi. He wasn’t just playing the game; he was rewriting the rules, even if it meant betting the farm.

He sold off spot ETH and smaller tokens like a man tossing trinkets to buy more bullets, funneling every last scrap of collateral into BTC, ETH, and HYPE longs. His positions now stood at 6,200 ETH, 25 BTC, and 55,000 HYPE, with ETH as his white whale, the bet he’d ride into the sunset or the grave. Selling spot to leverage perps? That’s like dancing with a rattlesnake-high risk, high reward, and no room for mistakes.

His $1.7M HYPE position was a Hail Mary, a bet that the exchange would rise from the ashes like a phoenix. If Bitcoin could claw its way back to $72K, the momentum might just carry all three positions to glory. But this wasn’t about running out of money-it was about conviction, or maybe just plain old stubbornness. If BTC faltered, the pressure would crush him like a boot on a scorpion.

The OI Showdown: HYPE vs. BTC vs. ETH

HYPE’s Open Interest stood tall, a lone cowboy in a ghost town, while Bitcoin and Ethereum’s OI dwindled like the last embers of a campfire. HYPE’s OI climbed to $1.32B as its price rose, the bulls seemingly in control. But beneath the surface, tension crackled like dry kindling.

Bitcoin’s OI compressed sharply, leverage thinning in the majors but thickening in Hyperliquid. It was like watching a storm gather on the horizon, dark and unpredictable.

Conviction or Delusion? Machi’s Last Stand

BTC traders leaned net short at 56%, with only 43% long, while ETH showed an even heavier short bias near 58%. But HYPE flipped the script, with 69% long dominance. It was a gap you could drive a wagon through. Risk appetite had withered in the majors, but conviction-or was it desperation?-burned bright in HYPE. Liquidation risk loomed, uneven and unforgiving.

The Final Tally

  • Leverage didn’t vanish-it just found a new dance partner in HYPE.
  • Machi’s escalation was either the move of a genius or the last gasp of a man refusing to admit defeat.

As the dust settles on this digital frontier, one thing’s for sure: Machi Big Brother isn’t going down without a fight. Whether he’s the last cowboy standing or just another cautionary tale remains to be seen. Grab your popcorn, folks-this ain’t over yet.

Read More

2026-02-17 19:03