Whale opens $50.6M 25x ETH short and $25.3M 20x BTC long

Wallet 0x50b3 placed a 25x leveraged short on ether worth $50.55 million and a 20x leveraged long on bitcoin worth $25.27 million, according to blockchain records. The trader staked 23,151 ETH for the short and 323.72 BTC for the long. The positions were opened while ether traded near $2,193 and bitcoin near $78,400.

The short leg carries a liquidation level around $2,288, roughly 4% above the ether price at the time of opening. The bitcoin long has a liquidation level near $70,325, about $8,000 below the market price when the position was established. The two-sided structure pairs high leverage on ether with a large long on bitcoin.

On-chain data show other large ether holders taking different actions. A wallet associated with an institutional manager increased long exposure to about 114,160 ETH, a stake valued at roughly $248.65 million across four wallets, with about $10.3 million in unrealized losses at current prices.

A long-term ethereum holder that originally received 11,005 ETH about a decade ago later sold that lot and realized roughly $30.56 million. That same wallet has since spent about $4.26 million in USDC to acquire 1,951 ETH at an average near $2,182.

Separate transfers show selling pressure and exchange flows. A wallet tied to World Liberty Financial sold 4,870 ETH for roughly $10.61 million in USDC at about $2,178 hours before broader market weakness. Two addresses possibly linked to Gammafund moved 10,976 ETH, about $23.9 million, to an exchange within a single hour.

Those transfers increased the amount of ether moving toward exchanges. On-chain exchange deposits and large, concentrated transfers are commonly tracked as indicators of holders reducing or shifting positions.

Leverage means borrowing capital to increase position size. A liquidation level is the price at which an exchange automatically closes a leveraged position to prevent further losses.