Essential Insights:
The top traders in 2025 influence markets not only through capital but also through compelling narratives.
James Wynn illustrates how high leverage can lead to remarkable gains but can also erase capital in mere moments.
Andrew Kang shows that aligning clear macro or policy changes with conviction trades can yield benefits… if appropriately sized.
GCR highlights that contrarian altcoin bets are most effective when supported by precise timing and a readiness to exit quickly.
Machi Big Brother demonstrates how trading in memes and NFTs embodies volatility — fortunes can change in an instant.
Arthur Hayes reveals how macro predictions can influence sentiment, though substantial forecasts carry inherent risks.
The crypto trading landscape in 2025 is markedly different from just a year prior. Institutional participants are increasingly active, regulations are stabilizing, and liquidity is changing market behaviors.
With significant capital in play, the focus has shifted from merely “what” is traded to “who” is driving the markets.
Influential social media figures, anonymous whales, and experienced macro investors are now key players. Their choices can ignite narratives, generate momentum, and influence price discovery far beyond the chatter of retail speculation.
This piece highlights five traders to follow in 2025. Some engage in high-risk speculation, while others are strategic in their thinking, but all leave an impact on the market.
1) James Wynn: High-stakes leverage and valuable lessons
James Wynn (known as JamesWynnReal) is among the most scrutinized traders of 2025 — famous for both significant wins and equally striking losses.
His trading style is unmistakable: heavy leverage (often up to 40x), bold moves in memecoins, and a taste for chasing volatility in Bitcoin (BTC) and other macro-sensitive assets.
In May 2025, Wynn reportedly opened a 40x-leveraged long on Bitcoin valued between $1.1 and $1.25 billion. When BTC fell, the position (along with others) was liquidated, leading to multi-million dollar losses.
This wasn’t his first high-stakes incident. Initially, Wynn transformed a minor Pepe (PEPE) stake into significant profits. He then transitioned into aggressive leveraged bets — many resulting in liquidation — particularly on memecoins like PEPE.
The pattern is familiar: astonishing gains followed by painful setbacks.
For observers, Wynn exemplifies both aspects of speculative trading: how daring positions can capture attention, while capital can quickly diminish.
2) Andrew Kang: Insightful infrastructure and macro bets
Andrew Kang, co-founder of Mechanism Capital, is noted for his thesis-driven strategy.
Mechanism has supported projects across decentralized finance (DeFi), infrastructure and gaming, but Kang stands out for his openness in publishing narrative theses and translating them into profitable trades.
In April 2025, one of his most visible moves occurred on Hyperliquid’s perpetuals exchange. Via a Mechanism-linked wallet (0xBb87), Kang initiated a 40x leveraged Bitcoin long worth about $100 million, swiftly increasing the position to approximately $200 million.
This coincided with changes in US tariff policy and a social media post from US President Donald Trump stating, “This is a great time to buy,” followed by a temporary 90-day halt on earlier tariffs.
Kang later took profits by trimming part of the position, allowing the rest to unwind gradually through time-weighted average price (TWAP) orders.
His approach effectively aligns macro or policy catalysts with conviction-leveraged trades, and he regularly shares narrative theses that shape market perceptions.
Interesting Fact: Before becoming a venture capitalist and trader, Kang earned about $5,000 through arbitrage trading Dogecoin (DOGE) on Reddit and over-the-counter markets during his college years.
3) GCR (Gigantic Rebirth): Contrarian conviction in altcoins and narratives
GCR (short for Gigantic Rebirth) is a semi-anonymous trader known for bold, high-conviction calls. He gained recognition for successfully shorting LUNA (including a $10 million bet with Do Kwon) before its collapse and has since become recognized for merging contrarian altcoin bets with keen insights on macro trends.
In 2025, GCR remained active in unwinding substantial altcoin positions, including the sale of roughly 174.9 million CULT tokens in a matter of hours, converting them into Ether (ETH) and Tether’s USDt (USDT) for approximately $557,000.
Simultaneously, he made bullish predictions, including setting a $10,000 price target for ETH while discussing tokens like Shiba Inu (SHIB) and INTL, relating their potential to broader aspects such as inflation and network activity.
A controversy arose in mid-2025 when screenshots and user claims suggested that GCR might have had early access to selections from Teeka Tiwari’s Palm Beach Confidential before their public divulging. Although the allegations remain unverified, they underscore the attentiveness to his activities.
What characterizes GCR is a fusion of daring altcoin exposure, expedient exits when necessary, and public narrative strategies that often contradict the mainstream consensus.
Interesting Fact: GCR accurately shorted LUNA near $90 ahead of its collapse, resulting in a substantial profit when the downturn occurred.
4) Machi Big Brother (Jeffrey Huang): High-leverage meme and NFT trades
Jeffrey Huang, better known as Machi Big Brother, is a Taiwanese-American entrepreneur from the music and entertainment industry who transitioned into the crypto space. He has founded projects like Mithril and is connected to Cream Finance. More recently, he’s become engaged in onchain trading, NFT speculation, and ambitious memecoin ventures.
In 2025, Machi sustained his reputation with considerable leveraged trades. For instance: a 25x Ether long valued around $54 million. Concurrently, he took a 5x leveraged position in Hyperliquid (HYPE).
At one stage, his portfolio reportedly displayed over $30 million in unrealized gains across ETH, HYPE, and Pump.fun’s PUMP. However, he reportedly incurred a $4.3-million net loss on PUMP alone.
His trading approach is marked by bold moves: He engages in aggressive leveraged positions, sometimes reversing direction (from long to short) on speculative tokens, and is recognized for swift turnarounds.
To observers, Machi embodies the unpredictability of the meme- and NFT-driven segment of crypto — where wealth can evaporate within hours.
5) Arthur Hayes: Macro forecaster and strategic thinker
Arthur Hayes, co-founder of BitMEX and chief investment officer of Maelstrom, is recognized as a leading macro analyst within the crypto realm. His writings and interviews often weave together themes regarding central bank policies, liquidity trends, and the supply dynamics of Bitcoin and Ether — frequently affecting market perspectives on macro-crypto relationships.
In 2025, Hayes released a series of bold predictions. On the pessimistic side, he cautioned of a possible correction that could pull Bitcoin back to the $70,000-$75,000 range during tightening cycles.
Nonetheless, his long-term outlook is notably positive: he forecasts that Bitcoin might surge to $200,000 by year’s end, driven by US Treasury bond buybacks and a surge of global liquidity.
Regarding Ether, Hayes has pointed out supply dynamics (staking, fee burn, and layer-2 activity) as supportive factors, recently re-entering a long ETH position based on these insights.
At the same time, he doesn’t shy away from downside risks, citing inflation, tariffs, and weak labor data as potential triggers for declines toward $100,000.
Hayes offers followers a dual advantage: part macro analyst, part trader who actively engages in the market.
His forecasts may not always materialize, but they often offer a framework for the market’s perception of risk and potential.
Interesting Fact: Hayes lost some of his early Bitcoin during the Mt. Gox hack in 2013, similar to many early investors.
“There’s a time to go long, a time to go short, and a time to go fishing”
James Wynn, Andrew Kang, GCR, Machi Big Brother, and Arthur Hayes are five remarkable forces impacting crypto trading in 2025.
From high-stakes leverage to macro-focused strategies, contrarian altcoin positions, and institutional influences, their approaches illustrate the multitude of factors shaping this marketplace simultaneously.
With institutional capital flowing in, yield strategies evolving, and regulatory frameworks tightening, the margin for error has diminished. These traders can act as early indicators of changing sentiments, but their actions can be noisy and costly to replicate without context.
The true value lies in observing: analyzing how they craft narratives, size positions, and handle risks.
Learn from their experiences, but refrain from blindly copying trades. Maintain your risk levels, monitor liquidity and policy shifts closely, and treat the market as a dynamic ecosystem where even the most experienced can err.
This article is not intended as investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading action carries risk, and readers should conduct their own research before making decisions.