TL;DR
- Abraxas, Fasanara and Wintermute maintain more than $600 million in combined Bitcoin and Ether shorts, with liquidation levels at least 62% above spot prices.
- Abraxas holds roughly $783 million in Hyperliquid short exposure and withdrew 73,872 ETH worth about $173.17 million from Binance to reinforce its hedge.
- Nearly $3 billion in leveraged Bitcoin shorts were liquidated over three days, yet these institutional positions remain open and appear primarily market-neutral hedges.
Abraxas Capital, Fasanara Capital and Wintermute are maintaining more than $600 million in combined Bitcoin and Ether short exposure even after a violent crypto rally erased billions in bearish positions. Onchain tracking shows the firms hold shorts totaling 138,569 ETH worth about $338 million and 3,425 BTC valued near $265 million. The remarkable detail is that these positions survived while heavily leveraged whales were forced out. Their liquidation levels remain far above spot prices, suggesting the books are structured less like fragile directional bets and more like institutional hedges designed to withstand substantial upside.
It seems that all the big whales have been liquidated in this price surge!
Currently, the largest short positions on the blockchain are held by market makers' hedging accounts.
Abraxas Capital, Fasanara Capital, and Wintertermute collectively hold short positions of 138,569… pic.twitter.com/0CtuNkWHbI
— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) August 24, 2026
Deep liquidation buffers separate institutional hedges from failed shorts
Abraxas carries the largest exposure among the three, with its Ether shorts facing liquidation near $4,008 and $3,958 while ETH trades around $2,440. Its Bitcoin shorts would not be liquidated until roughly $128,521 and $140,437, compared with BTC near $77,381. Wintermute’s Bitcoin position has an even wider buffer, surviving until approximately $251,307. Those thresholds explain why the recent squeeze barely threatened these firms despite punishing other short sellers. Bitcoin would need to climb about 66%, or Ether roughly 62%, before the nearest positions reach liquidation territory, leaving substantial room for volatility.
The distinction matters because the shorts appear tied to market-making and hedging activity. Abraxas has roughly $58 million in unrealized losses across four positions but has not closed them, while Fasanara sits 18.87% underwater on a $74.81 million ETH short using 15x leverage. Wintermute remains marginally profitable on Bitcoin and Ether. The losses therefore do not necessarily signal a failed bearish thesis. Onchain Lens separately tracked Wintermute increasing Hyperliquid short exposure from $146.19 million to $190.77 million, adding about $44.58 million even as the broader market rally continued squeezing weaker participants.
Abraxas has gone further, building roughly $783 million in short exposure on Hyperliquid while withdrawing 73,872 ETH worth about $173.17 million from Binance over four days to reinforce its hedge. The firm has previously been associated with market-neutral strategies that pair derivatives shorts against separate holdings. The broader picture is one of sophisticated risk management operating inside an unusually aggressive rally. Bitcoin gained about 23% over the week, nearly $3 billion in leveraged BTC shorts were liquidated over three days, and spot ETFs added more than $1.9 billion, yet these institutional books remain positioned for continued volatility across Bitcoin and Ether markets this week.
