Abraxas Capital has made another large bet on Ethereum, but this time the move is designed to protect an even bigger bearish position.
The investment manager bought 13,000 ETH for about $32.39 million in the spot market while keeping a 141,180 ETH short position on Hyperliquid, worth approximately $353.27 million, open.
Blockchain analytics account Lookonchain reported the transaction on September 8 and described the purchase as a hedge against the firm’s short position. Based on the reported figures, Abraxas paid an implied price of around $2,491 for each ETH.
Abraxas Capital bought another 13,000 $ETH ($32.39M) spot to hedge its 141,180 $ETH ($353.27M) short on Hyperliquid.https://t.co/qwAXChjYvp pic.twitter.com/q5fIew30RS
— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) September 8, 2026
The two positions work in opposite directions. If Ethereum falls, the short position could benefit, while the newly purchased spot ETH would lose value. If ETH rises, the spot holdings gain value and can partly offset losses on the short.
The latest purchase represents a little more than 9% of the size of the short position in terms of the number of ETH. Even after the hedge, Abraxas would still have roughly 128,180 ETH of net short exposure, assuming the positions reported by Lookonchain are its relevant holdings.
Importantly, the transaction does not mean Abraxas has closed or significantly reduced its bearish position. The reported figures show that the much larger Hyperliquid short remains open.
The size of the trade also highlights how large whale positions have become on Hyperliquid, a decentralised derivatives trading platform. Large traders have been placing billions of dollars in leveraged long and short positions on the platform this year.
In May, whale positions on Hyperliquid were estimated at around $4.04 billion. There were around $1.98 billion in long holdings and $2.06 billion in short positions. The almost equal split demonstrated the disagreement among big traders over the direction of the cryptocurrency market.
Large Ethereum transactions are nothing new to Abraxas. Over the course of two days in May 2025, the company removed over 138,511 ETH, or almost $297 million, from centralized exchanges. Later, for about $84.7 million, it purchased a further 33,482 ETH.
According to Lookonchain data at the time, Abraxas had amassed about $477 million, or over 211,030 ETH, in just six days. But earlier transactions took place in a separate market, and there’s no evidence that they served the same goal as the most recent transaction.
Ethereum has recently been trading around the $2,500 level after recovering from an early September decline. On September 2, ETH dropped to an intraday low of about $2,356 after failing to break through resistance around $2,550.
Significant liquidations were also brought on by the slump. As Ether fell below $2,400, almost $94.2 million in ETH futures holdings were reportedly liquidated over the course of a day.
The token later recovered towards $2,500, bringing the market close to the price level at which Abraxas made its latest spot purchase.
There are also signs that institutional investors remain interested in Ethereum. US spot Ethereum ETFs recorded $225.8 million in net inflows on August 28, extending a nine-session inflow streak to about $1.42 billion.
BlackRock’s ETHA accounted for around $1.02 billion of those nine-day inflows, while Fidelity’s FETH recorded $56.2 million on August 28. BlackRock’s staked ETHB product added another $20.7 million.
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