The cryptocurrency market posted modest gains over the weekend following a week of declines, with total market capitalization rising 1.1% in 24 hours. Large investors moved aggressively across derivatives and spot markets, deploying hundreds of millions in leveraged bets and accumulating digital assets as prices stabilized after recent volatility.

What to Know:

• A whale holding approximately $250 million in Bitcoin and Ethereum reversed a previous short position to establish long positions with leverage up to 15x, despite earlier losses exceeding $10 million.
• Institutional purchases included $1.5 billion in Ethereum by treasury firm BitMine, while centralized exchanges saw net outflows of roughly 21,000 Bitcoin over the past week.
• Diverging strategies emerged as some traders opened substantial short positions totaling more than $140 million across Bitcoin and Ethereum, while others accumulated Ethena and Chainlink tokens.

Derivatives Markets Show Split Strategies

Large-scale traders adopted conflicting positions in derivatives markets as volatility created opportunities for both bearish and bullish bets. One whale who had shorted Bitcoin the previous week shifted to a long stance, according to on-chain data. The trader now holds a 15x leveraged long position on 1,610.93 Bitcoin valued at $173 million and a 3x long position on 19,894.21 Ethereum worth $77.4 million.

The investor's unrealized losses dropped from more than $10 million to approximately $3.1 million.

Other major players took the opposite view.

A whale deposited 30 million USDC into Hyperliquid and opened a 10x short position on 700 Bitcoin worth roughly $75.5 million at an entry price of $109,133.10. The liquidation price sits at $150,082.90, with current unrealized profits at $455,000. The same investor previously earned $160 million shorting Bitcoin during the Oct. 11 crash.

Wallets linked to trader Andrew Kang opened $68 million in new short positions, including 10,275 Ethereum at 25x leverage and 269 Bitcoin at 40x leverage.

Kang maintained a long position in Ethena despite the bearish tilt on major cryptocurrencies, with reported profits of around $5.6 million over the past week.

A whale identified as 0x579f held mixed positions totaling approximately $70 million, including shorts of 232 Bitcoin ($25 million) and 5,810 Ethereum ($22.7 million) alongside a long position of 44.79 million Ethena ($21.3 million).

Not all traders shared optimism about Ethena. A newly created wallet withdrew $4 million USDC from Coinbase over two days to open short positions on Ethereum at 15x leverage and Ethena at 10x leverage, currently facing a floating loss of $1.44 million.

Spot Markets Reflect Institutional Accumulation

Spot markets experienced substantial inflows as investors used price dips to build positions. Ethereum treasury firm BitMine made the largest documented purchase, adding $1.5 billion in Ethereum to its holdings. The acquisition signals institutional confidence in Ethereum's fundamentals despite recent market turbulence.

El Salvador increased its Bitcoin reserves by 8 coins over the past week, bringing its total holdings to 6,355.18 Bitcoin. Exchange data showed steady accumulation patterns across the market.

Major centralized exchanges recorded net outflows of approximately 21,000 Bitcoin during the week.

Coinbase Pro led withdrawals with 15,000 Bitcoin, followed by Binance with 12,000 Bitcoin.

Activity extended beyond the two largest cryptocurrencies. In the Chainlink ecosystem, a newly created wallet withdrew 142,428 LINK tokens worth around $2.4 million from Binance. Within 12 hours, 892,460 LINK tokens valued at roughly $15 million left the exchange. Over the week, total Binance withdrawals reached 2.31 million LINK tokens worth approximately $40.76 million.

Understanding Key Market Terms

Leveraged positions allow traders to control larger amounts of cryptocurrency than their initial investment through borrowed funds. A 15x long position means a trader controls 15 times their capital, amplifying both potential gains and losses. Short positions profit when prices decline, while long positions gain value as prices rise. Unrealized profits or losses refer to paper gains or deficits on open positions that have not been closed.

Spot markets involve direct purchases of cryptocurrency for immediate delivery, contrasting with derivatives markets where traders use contracts based on future prices. Net outflows from exchanges typically indicate investors moving assets to personal wallets for longer-term holding rather than active trading. On-chain analysts track these movements by examining blockchain transaction data to identify patterns among large holders commonly called whales.

Closing Thoughts

The combination of aggressive leveraged positioning in derivatives and steady accumulation in spot markets reflects uncertainty about near-term price direction. While some whales bet on further declines through substantial short positions, others quietly built holdings, suggesting confidence that October's volatility has peaked.