Ethereum price has followed Bitcoin’s lead and has seen a 10.3% price increase in the last seven days. The news of BlackRock’s Bitcoin spot ETF filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission caught the entire market by surprise and also breathed new life into altcoins. For a trader on the decentralized perpetual exchange GMX, however, the news is not really good news, but a nightmare.
Short Selling Ethereum Takes Rekt?
The largest short seller on GMX uses 6.64x leverage to short Ether (ETH) at an entry price of $1,703.97. A total of $1.8 million in collateral is at stake for the unidentified businessman. At press time, the position was down 77.4% for a total of -$1.416 million.
As it stands, the trader’s short position of about $12 million in ETH will be liquidated if the price of Ethereum reaches $1,945.18. According to a report from Chinese journalist Colin Wu, it will be the owner of rebelvarma.lens.
As the famous analyst An Ape’s Prologue avidly, the ETH short seller can even double his bet. As the analyst wrote, the consensus believes that the short position will be liquidated when ETH reaches $1945. However, there are limit orders that add a total of $149,000 to the trader’s collateral within the $1935 and $1945 price ranges. If triggered, it could increase the liquidation price to around $1967.
The analyst’s chart below shows how the price of his liquidation changes with changes in the price of ETH. Until Ethereum reaches $1935, the liquidation price will remain at $1945, but limit orders will be triggered when ETH enters the $1935 and $1945 range, increasing the liquidation price to $1967.
In addition, the analyst said that the address has about $224,000 worth of other assets spread across Arbitrum and the Binance Smart Chain: $90,000 in USDT, $51,000 in USDC, $64,000 in WBTC and $21,500 in AAVE.
“With a history of mitigating liquidation risk by linking tokens from other chains to Arbitrum for collateral, we may see a similar strategy if the price of ETH rises. The $224k in available assets can be used to increase collateral in this scenario,” said the analyst.
If the short seller of ETH uses all its assets and puts them as collateral, the maximum liquidation price can rise to almost $2,000, which represents an additional 6.5% price increase from the current price. So, Twitter user @apes_prologue concluded:
While his position seems precarious, the danger of liquidation is not as close as many believe, because he has mechanisms at his disposal to protect his position. In addition, it is also possible that he hedged his position in other markets that we are not aware of.
ETH About To Break $2,000?
Rumors are circulating in the crypto community that the liquidation of the GMX short-seller could trigger a breakout of ETH above $2,000. The 1-hour chart of Ether shows that the price is currently stuck in the price range between $1,964 and $1,930 for now. A breakout to the upside or downside can be decisive for the next move.
A look at the 1-day chart reveals that a breakout above $1,930 does not mean a follow-through above $2,000. The 78.6% Fibonacci retracement level is at $1,975, where major resistance is expected. Ethereum bulls can only target the psychologically important $2,000 level if they break out above this price level.
Featured image from iStock, chart from TradingView.com
