As the broader cryptocurrency market moved through a period of choppy consolidation over the past few months up to July 14, one trader on Aster DEX managed to pull off an extraordinary gain. The trader, identified on-chain as 0x89c3…A013, deposited $1 million into the decentralized exchange on June 18 and opened a short position on Yooldo (ESPORT). According to data from the AsterDEX explorer, that move has already yielded over $9 million in profit, translating to a return of roughly 806%.
The trade is still open. The trader has already withdrawn the initial $1 million deposit from Aster, reducing risk to zero. They then partially closed the position, locking in a realized profit of about $4.28 million. At press time, the remaining short position held 137.73 million ESPORT tokens, worth approximately $1.95 million. It seems the trader is betting on further price declines.
How the trade worked
What makes this case interesting is that the trader used only 1x leverage on the ESPORT/$USDT pair. That is a very conservative approach compared to the high-leverage bets often seen in crypto. By avoiding excessive leverage, the trader sidestepped the risk of forced liquidation — a common pitfall when tokens experience sudden volatility.
The short was opened when ESPORT was trading around $0.05. Since then, the token has fallen dramatically, losing over 98% of its value since mid-May. At press time, ESPORT was priced at around $0.01416, giving it a market cap of approximately $8.94 million. The trader currently holds about $4.77 million in unrealized profit on the remaining position.
Wider market context
This trade happened against a backdrop of a broader crypto sell-off. Many altcoins have struggled in recent weeks, and ESPORT was no exception. It is worth noting that such a sharp decline makes shorting highly profitable — for those who get the timing right. But predicting the bottom is always tricky. The trader’s decision to use minimal leverage suggests a cautious bet, focused more on directional conviction than gambling on volatility.
Whether the token continues to slide or stages a recovery remains uncertain. The trader, however, is comfortably sitting on a stack of profits, with the original stake already returned. This case shows that on-chain data from DEXs can offer a window into how professional-like traders operate — and sometimes, a simple short can outperform the crowd.
