Ethereum Whale Battles $19.9M Loss as ETH Price Breaks Above $4,300

The Ethereum price has been pumping almost non-stop over the past few days, and during the early hours of Sunday (CET) it finally broke above $4,300 for the first time in years.

However, this breakout was short-lived, since the ETH price pulled back into the $4,200–$4,250 range. That being said, the overall trend remains bullish. With very little resistance left until the $4,400–$4,450 area – and not much beyond that – the road to new all-time highs is looking clearer by the day.

But not everyone is celebrating the rally.

Whale Keeps Adding Millions to Stay in the Game

Blockchain tracking shows that a single whale is fighting to keep a massive Ethereum short position alive. The trader has opened a $66.4M ETH-USD short on HyperLiquid with 20x leverage, which means even small moves in ETH price can trigger huge gains – or devastating losses. Right now, the position is sitting on a floating loss of $19.9M.

To avoid getting liquidated, the whale has been depositing large amounts of USDC into the account. Over the past two days alone, they’ve sent in around $9.5M USDC from an Arbitrum wallet, with multiple transactions ranging from $900k to $4M each. These deposits help boost the account’s margin, giving them more breathing room as Ethereum continues to rise.

Why Traders Do This

When you’re holding a highly leveraged short position, rising prices push your margin ratio toward liquidation. To prevent the exchange from automatically closing your trade at a loss, you can add more collateral. This doesn’t reverse the loss, but it buys you time in hopes that the market will turn in your favor.

In this whale’s case, they’re clearly betting that Ethereum’s rally will fade and price will drop, allowing them to close the short profitably. The risk is that if ETH keeps climbing, they could end up throwing more and more capital into a losing position.

Read also: ChatGPT Compares Kaspa Infrastructure With Ethereum and Solana

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Petar Jovanović
Petar Jovanović

As the Head of Content at Captainaltcoin, I bring years of experience in the crypto industry. With a strong belief in the potential of the web3 market since 2017, I'm passionate about sharing valuable insights and knowledge. Feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn and let's discuss the exciting world of cryptocurrencies and decentralized technologies!

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