On August 23, market maker Wintermute increased its short position volume on the decentralized exchange Hyperliquid from $146.19 million to $190.77 million. Since the previous observation, the company added approximately $44.58 million in shorts, Onchain Lens analysts noted. The largest positions were in Ethereum ($53.02 million) and Bitcoin ($30.66 million). These were followed by Solana with $22.62 million, the HYPE token with $11.43 million, and XRP with $10.19 million.
Lookonchain specialists noted that following the recent market rally, the main short positions were concentrated in the hedging accounts of institutional participants. Abraxas Capital, Fasanara Capital, and Wintermute collectively held shorts on 138,569 ETH worth approximately $338 million and 3,425 BTC worth $265 million, totaling $603 million. During the rally, several positions held by other participants were liquidated, leaving these 3 companies among the largest remaining short holders.
The largest unrealized loss among them was recorded at Abraxas — approximately $58 million across 4 positions in Bitcoin and Ethereum. Fasanara was down roughly $16.6 million. Wintermute's figures for the 2 largest cryptocurrencies were near breakeven at the time of calculation. Meanwhile, the liquidation levels for the shorts are notably above the current coin prices. For Abraxas's 2 Ethereum positions, they stand at $4,008 and $3,958, and for Bitcoin at $128,521 and $140,437, while for Wintermute's Bitcoin position it is approximately $251,307. At the time of writing, the leading cryptocurrency is trading around $78,100, and the top altcoin is around $2,500.
As a reminder, from August 17 to August 23, the price of Bitcoin rose by $14,264 — the largest weekly gain on record. Against this backdrop, analysts and market participants are observing various strategies among institutional players, some of whom are using short positions as a hedging tool rather than as a directional bet on declining prices.