Arthur Hayes, co-founder and CIO of BitMEX exchange, has executed a significant portfolio rebalancing after making a $150 HYPE target call just days earlier. According to reports from TradingView News and IBTimes, Hayes dumped his entire Hyperliquid (HYPE) and Near protocol (NEAR) holdings, reversing course after publicly challenging Multicoin Capital co-founder Kyle Samani to a $100,000 charity bet that HYPE would outperform every top-10 cryptocurrency by the end of 2026. The rebalancing came as he anticipates bearish market pressure from upcoming IPOs, including SpaceX, Athropic, and OpenAI. As reported by TradingView News, Hayes sold 247,334 HYPE tokens worth approximately $18.02 million across multiple exchanges including OKX, Bybit, and Flowdesk on June 4, with the sales coming shortly after he publicly challenged Multicoin Capital co-founder Kyle Samani to a $100,000 charity bet, claiming that HYPE will outperform every top-10 cryptocurrency by the end of 2026. The rebalancing reflects Hayes's risk management approach amid higher energy prices due to the ongoing Middle East conflict, with HYPE falling 8.4% to $65 and NEAR dropping 17.4% to $2.34 over the past 24 hours according to TradingView data.
Despite the broader altcoin sell-off, Hayes has positioned himself positively on Worldcoin (WLD) ahead of the SpaceX IPO scheduled for next week. As reported by TradingView News, he described the SpaceX IPO as 'going to melt people's faces off' and indicated he would hold WLD through the listing. The bullish stance on WLD may be attributed to the protocol's focus on human identification in the AI era, with WLD surging over 62% in the last 7 days and trading at $0.479 at the time of publication. The SpaceX IPO is expected to raise $75 billion at a $1.75 trillion valuation, positioning it as one of the largest tech IPOs in history. SpaceX reportedly filed confidentially for an IPO in early April, with anonymous sources saying that the IPO could be finalized as early as June, while the company filed an S-1 registration statement in May as part of its bid to become a public company on June 12. Anthropic has reportedly selected Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase to lead its IPO and is weighing going public as soon as October, with the company currently valued at roughly $1 trillion supported by strong enterprise adoption and rapid revenue growth.
Hayes's market calls have historically served as contrarian indicators, with some bullish posts in the past immediately followed by massive sell-offs by his fund. According to TradingView News and IBTimes, he made a bullish 'HYPE to $150' call earlier in the week, only to report exiting his entire holdings three days later. This pattern has led market observers to view his bullish posts as potential exit liquidity signals for his trades, though the potential bearish pressure from AI IPOs has been documented by other reputable analysts. Hayes previously projected HYPE could reach $150 if Hyperliquid continues to dominate decentralized perpetual futures trading and unlocks additional revenue streams. He also predicted that NEAR may see a 20x rally by 2027, though these aggressive targets have now been abandoned as he cites three mega artificial intelligence IPOs lined up before the early third quarter as creating new market highs between now and September 2026. The 'Reality Test' essay scheduled for June 9 is expected to provide further insights into his current market outlook.
Hayes anticipates market highs to occur between now and September, prompting him to realize gains and reduce risk amid a crowded IPO calendar. According to TradingView News, he wrote on Thursday X post that 'highs in mrkts will happen btw now and September,' adding that it was 'time to take profit.' The timeline for major AI IPOs remains fluid, with OpenAI preparing a confidential IPO filing and could go public as early as September, as investors anchor around a $1 trillion valuation and watch whether its heavy AI infrastructure spending can convert into long-term profitability. 74% of traders expect OpenAI's IPO to occur by December 31, while only 35% expect it to occur before September 30, according to data from prediction market Polymarket. Some industry participants worry that the AI IPOs could spell bad news for Bitcoin and the wider cryptocurrency markets, as the growing interest in the offerings may drain more liquidity from the cryptocurrency market.
The broader altcoin market has shown mixed signals amid the Bitcoin decline and ongoing capital rotation toward AI-focused projects. As reported by AMBCrypto, Altcoin Exchange Inflows dropped across all exchanges, including Binance and Coinbase, as Bitcoin extended its plunge to February lows. However, the altcoin season index remained nearly at a neutral level (49) despite the week's pullback, indicating relative strength in the altcoin sector amid Bitcoin's crash. This resilience suggests potential discounted opportunities for top altcoin investments like HYPE, with HYPE price climbing nearly 17% over the past seven days and trading at about $66.51 on Thursday, while NEAR gained 2.32% during the same period, trading around $2.44. Hayes previously described HYPE, NEAR, and Zcash (ZEC) as the 'holy trinity' when in position, stating 'when you are in position, trading is easy, sit back and watch number go up.'
