Nvidia Shares and Derivatives Slide Amid Leadership Controversy and Multi-Million Dollar Leveraged Shorts

Nvidia shares and perpetual futures dropped over 4% to 7%, falling below $178 on Monday following controversy involving CEO Jensen Huang. Weekend trading activity on decentralized venue Hyperliquid drove early price discovery, with synthetic perpetual futures falling to as low as $180.15 on up to $200 million in volume. A crypto trader placed a 10x leveraged short position of 30,000 contracts worth $5.44 million at $181.33 per contract. Additional pre-market equity options reached $15 million in premium, with nearly $10 million in puts, after Huang admitted to an extramarital affair with an executive linked to Chinese intelligence inquiries.