London hedge fund Abraxas suffers a massive loss of $190 million on its hedging strategy! ETH short positions get liquidated at 14.4 billion, triggering institutional risk warnings.

The well-known London investment firm Abraxas Capital Management has encountered massive unrealized losses due to its aggressive crypto shorting strategy. On-chain data shows that its ETH short positions have unrealized losses exceeding $144 million, with overall crypto hedging losses nearing $190 million. Although market observers believe its short positions aim to hedge the risks of Spot holdings, the continuous rise in the crypto market has rendered the strategy ineffective. This incident highlights the execution risks of institutional crypto hedging strategies. Samson Mow further proposed the ETH/BTC rotation harvesting theory, sparking discussions in the market about the price ceiling of Ethereum.

( Hedge Fund Suffered Huge Losses: Crypto Shorting Strategy Encountered Waterloo ) The London-based renowned investment firm Abraxas Capital Management Ltd. has faced massive unrealized losses due to its execution of high-risk crypto shorting strategies, attracting significant market attention.

The on-chain analysis platform Lookonchain shows that two accounts associated with the institution have established large short positions in mainstream crypto assets, involving Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL), Sui (SUI), and Hype (HYPE). This operation is suspected to be a hedging protection for its spot holdings. However, the continuous upward market trend reversed the betting direction, leading Abraxas to face unrealized losses of nearly $190 million (approximately 1.37 billion yuan).

Lookonchain specifically pointed out: "They hold short positions of 113,819 $ETH( worth 483 million dollars) - unrealized losses have exceeded 144 million dollars." It is worth noting that the heaviest losses come from Ethereum short positions, with this single cryptocurrency causing over $144 million in losses.

( The essence of short positions: Risk hedging or speculative blunder? ) Despite the staggering amount of losses, market observers generally believe that these positions are more likely to be risk Hedging rather than speculative bets. In fact, such encryption asset Hedging strategies are often used by large asset management institutions to mitigate potential downside risks during periods of increased market volatility. However, this strategy has been ineffective for the institution. Blockchain analysis company Arkham Intelligence supplemented this analysis by stating: Abraxas Capital's Holdings include over $573 million worth of ETH and $69.4 million in HYPE, which may represent a positive Delta exposure ( that profits when prices rise ) and Delta neutral ( that is insensitive to price fluctuations ).

The institution's $583 million traditional investment portfolio is highly concentrated in Ethereum liquid staking tokens (LST), while its over $800 million short positions on the Hyperliquid platform also faced catastrophic drawdowns. Arkham also pointed out that it may hold undisclosed positions in mainstream CEX and other centralized exchanges.

(Samson Mow's Rotational Harvesting Theory) In response to this phenomenon, Jan3 CEO Samson Mow made a sharp point: Ethereum whales holding large amounts of BTC often exchange BTC for ETH to leverage new narratives to drive up the price of ETH; after the price rises, they sell ETH, causing long-term holders to incur losses and transferring profits back to Bitcoin.

Mow pointed out: "ETH needs to break through the historical high point (ATH), which will face a huge challenge, as the closer it gets to this psychological barrier, the stronger the impulse to sell. It's like the 'holders' dilemma' (similar to the prisoner's dilemma, but the options become sell/hold)." He further emphasized: "Bitcoin holders need not worry about the ETH/BTC exchange rate breaking the downtrend line. Ethereum has always been just a tool for these people to acquire more Bitcoin, just as it was during the ICO era, and it is the same now."

( Market Insights and Future Outlook ) Abraxas Capital's large short positions and continuously expanding losses clearly reveal how institutional hedging strategies trigger a chain reaction of volatility risks in the crypto market.

The current ETH price is approaching the overbought area and trading volume continues to rise, indicating that the possibility of significant fluctuations in crypto asset prices remains high. For traders, this event highlights the importance of combining market insights with on-chain data—by tracking the dynamics of institutional crypto holdings, investors can anticipate market fluctuations and transform institutional liquidation pressure into precise crypto market arbitrage opportunities.

( Conclusion ) Abraxas Capital has suffered nearly $200 million in crypto hedging losses, sounding the alarm for risk management among institutional investors. In the context of high volatility in the crypto market, even professional institutions' hedging strategies may fail due to trend misjudgments. The ETH/BTC rotation harvesting theory proposed by Samson Mow reveals the operational logic of the market's leading funds more profoundly. As ETH approaches a key psychological level, the long-short game will continue to intensify, and on-chain monitoring and institutional position analysis will become core survival skills for crypto traders. This case also indicates that large-scale institutional crypto hedging operations are becoming a new variable affecting market volatility.