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🐳 Daily Edition: Bitcoin, Alts Deep in the Red as Papertrade Sees $80B in First Hour of Launch

Pseudonymous trader Jez launched Papertrade this weekend, a platform featuring fully-onchain synthetic perps with up to 1000x leverage and no slippage... and it's going surprisingly well

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Will McKinnon & Beluga
October 12, 2026

This morning’s attempt at a rebound in the majors has flipped the other direction as Bitcoin looks to break back under $81k at time of writing, driven by broader macro weakness and a cascade of ~$160M in liquidations. Alts got hit even harder led by a 3.5% sell off on ETH with a further $169M in liquidations while CT’s golden token Hyperliquid extended its decline to over 15% in the last two weeks.

The story most of us were tracking this weekend was the launch of Papertrade, a fully onchain synthetic perps platform offering up to 1000x leverage with no slippage. Founded by veteran and well-known trader pseudonymously known as “Jez,” the platform’s token launched with zero supply and no allocations: the only way new PAPER is minted is through user losses or liquidations.

That earned PAPER can then be staked for a share in the platform’s fees, “turning liquidation into ownership.” The market clearly found this novel token design to be compelling as the platform processed $80B in notional volume in its first hour of trading.

The numbers here are shocking, but it’s important to remember exactly what they mean: at 1000x leverage, $80 million of collateral cycling once produces $80 billion of volume. What is likely the more meaningful metric to watch is platform TVL which hit $138M in pre-deposits before trading was even live.

Just a few days into its lifecycle, a malicious entity manipulated Hyperqliuid markets (which Papertrade draws its pricing data from) to “exploit” Papertrade to the tune of a few million dollars. Exploit is in quotes above as this exact risk was actually disclosed in the Papertrade docs pre-launch, and the team has now taken steps to prevent it from happening again. While I can’t say I recommend trading on leverage as obscenely high as 1000x (or leverage at all for that matter), I’m excited to watch the platform develop with one of the industry’s top traders at the helm.

I thought we were all here for the volatility?

Check out tomorrow’s livestream with Fundstrat’s Head of Digital Asset Strategy Sean Farrell!

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Disclaimer

The content on this site is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as investment advice. While Beluga strives to ensure the accuracy and timeliness of information, there may be discrepancies when comparing our data to that of financial institutions, service providers, or specific product websites. Always consult with a professional before making any financial decisions. Will McKinnon is the Head of Content for Beluga and has spent every day for many years trading coins. For that reason there are too many to name, however his largest holdings by a significant margin are Ethereum and Bitcoin. NFA DYOR