$50 Million Ethereum Short Rocks The Market: How Will ETH Price React?

Whale wallet 0x50b3 opened a 25x leveraged short worth $50.55 million on ether (ETH), per Lookonchain data. The same wallet placed a 20x long worth $25.27 million on Bitcoin (BTC), splitting whale conviction across the top two cryptos.

The position arrived as Ethereum traded near $2,193. Liquidation pressure sits at $2,288 for the short leg and $70,325 for the BTC long.

$50 Million Short Anchors a Two-Sided Bet

The trader staked 23,151 ETH on the short side and 323.72 BTC on the long. The asymmetric setup profits if Bitcoin holds while Ether drops.

BTC currently trades near $78,400, leaving about $8,000 of headroom before the long-side liquidation level.

ETH sits less than 5% above the short-side liquidation, suggesting the trader expects further weakness or a quick squeeze.

Ethereum (ETH) Price Performance. Source: BeInCrypto

The unusual pairing implies a relative-value bet on continued ETH underperformance against BTC.

Ether Whales Split on Direction

Elsewhere, a Matrixport-linked whale who previously cleared $59 million in profit extended ether longs to 114,160 ETH worth $248.65 million.

The position spans four wallets and carries $10.3 million in unrealized losses. The trader has added conviction on the long side even as price action weakens.

In the same way, an Ethereum OG with an 803x historical return on the asset also returned to accumulate. The wallet received 11,005 ETH from ShapeShift 10 years ago at $3.46 each.

It sold the entire lot over a year ago at $2,777, banking $30.56 million in proceeds. So far, the wallet has spent $4.26 million USDC to acquire 1,951 ETH at $2,182.

Panic Selling Pressure Mounts

However, selling pressure tells a different story. A wallet linked to Trump-affiliated World Liberty Financial sold 4,870 ETH for $10.61 million in USD Coin (USDC) at $2,178. The sale closed roughly eight hours before the broader market reset.

Two addresses possibly linked to Gammafund deposited 10,976 ETH worth $23.9 million into Binance over a single hour. The flow pattern echoes earlier de-risking by institutional holders.

“Whales/institutions are panic-selling $ETH! Two wallets, possibly both linked to @Gammafund, deposited 10,976 $ETH ($23.9M) into Binance over the past hour,” Lookonchain reported, flagging the deposits as a likely exit.

The leveraged short proving prescient or premature now depends on dip buyers. The Matrixport trader and the returning OG must absorb that supply for ether to defend the $2,200 floor.