In the world of cryptocurrency trading, few figures have stirred as much controversy as Garrett Jin, better known by GarrettBullish. A Hong Kong-based trader who joined X in October 2018, Garrett has built a reputation for delivering sharp market insights, often blending short-term bearish warnings with strong long-term optimism.
With over 18,900 followers, his posts frequently critique exchange liquidity issues and advocate for industry reforms, such as stabilization funds to prevent crashes. But beyond his public persona lies a complex background in crypto operations, scandals, and now, allegations of insider trading tied to US President Donald Trump’s announcements.
From Exchange Executive to Scandal
Garrett’s journey in the crypto space is marked by high-profile roles and questionable dealings. He previously served as the Chief Operating Officer at Huobi (now HTX), one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges. Later, he became CEO of BitForex, an exchange caught in a major scandal involving a $56.5 million exit scam in 2024. Investigators linked him to the disappearance of user funds, though Garrett has denied direct involvement.
His lesser-known ties extend to the IOTA and Shimmer ecosystems, where he contributed to projects like TanglePay, a wallet app, and IotaBee, a decentralized exchange. These ventures highlight his interest in Web3 infrastructure, but they’ve also drawn scrutiny amid broader market manipulations. Garrett positions himself as a practical trader:
“Everyone wants to make a profit from the market. What expertise or training do you have to beat it? If you can’t answer that, you are the profit,” he once posted.
The $1.1 Billion Short Position
The spotlight intensified on October 11, 2025, when a massive market crash wiped out an estimated $19 billion in crypto value. At the center was a Hyperliquid whale, later identified as Garrett, who executed a staggering $1.1 billion short position on Bitcoin and Ethereum. This bet netted him around $190-200 million in profits as prices plummeted. The position, leveraged at up to 20x, involved converting over 35,000 BTC to ETH since August and aggressively shorting amid escalating US-China trade tensions.
Garrett defended the move as a hedge against his large spot holdings, insisting it was based on “bearish insights” like overbought signals, MACD divergences, and excessive leverage in the market. He argued that the crash stemmed from liquidity failures on exchanges, not manipulation, and called for stabilization funds to rebuild trust.
The Trump Connection: Perfect Timing or Insider Trading?
What turned heads, however, was the perfect timing. Garrett’s final short order was placed at 20:49 GMT on October 11, just one minute before President Trump tweeted about imposing 100% tariffs on Chinese imports. The announcement triggered a cascade of liquidations, amplifying the crash. Crypto investigators like Coffeezilla highlighted the “incredible luck,” sparking widespread accusations of insider trading.
Speculation ran wild: Was Garrett tipped off by Trump family connections? His Chinese roots fueled theories that he might have had advance knowledge from Beijing’s side of the negotiations. Garrett strongly denied any ties to the Trumps or insider info, stating on X: “I have no connection with the Trump family or @DonaldJTrumpJr, this isn’t insider trading.”
CZ’s Explosive Revelation
The exposure came courtesy of Changpeng Zhao (CZ), Binance’s founder. In a post deepening the mystery, CZ shared Garrett’s personal details, linking him to the Hyperliquid wallet and questioning if the crash was an “attack on Binance.” CZ’s revelation tied Garrett to a “Bitcoin OG” wallet holding around 100,000 BTC, accumulated from early mining or acquisitions.
This wallet’s movements had long puzzled analysts, but CZ’s call for clarification blew the lid off, confirming Garrett as the whale behind history’s largest single-day margin call. Garrett responded by clarifying the short was a partial hedge, not malice, and emphasized his long-term bullish stance: “We are bullish in the long term. It doesn’t mean that we would not hedge in the short term.”
The Aftermath
This story highlights the crypto market’s fragility, where one trader’s bet can ripple globally. Garrett’s story, from exchange exec to accused manipulator, mirrors the industry’s highs and lows. While he maintains the timing was coincidental, driven by quantitative alerts on trade wars, skeptics remain unconvinced.
As investigations loom, Garrett continues posting, undeterred: “The client is holding a large amount of spot crypto. The short position is just a partial hedge.”
Whether villain or visionary, GarrettBullish embodies crypto’s wild frontier.
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