Hedge funds have ramped their short positions on Ethereum, setting a new record on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME).
This surge in short bets comes despite a notable increase in capital flowing into spot Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
Over the past week, the nine US spot Ethereum ETFs saw net inflows of $420.06 million, significantly outpacing the $204 million inflows recorded by their Bitcoin counterparts.
However, the increased capital failed to drive ETH’s price higher. Instead, the asset remains under pressure—falling by around 20% in the past month to $2,657 as of press time, according to CryptoSlate’s data.
This declining price trend has raised concerns about Ethereum’s short-term outlook.
Market analysts have pointed to a direct correlation between ETH’s weak performance and a sharp increase in hedge fund short positions. Over the past week, these positions have spiked more than 40%, marking a staggering 500% surge since November 2024.
Some analysts also noted that the aggressive shorting could be amplifying ETH’s struggles, potentially signaling further downside risks.
This has put a spotlight on ETH’s growing performance gap compared to Bitcoin. Since the start of 2024, Bitcoin has outperformed Ethereum by a factor of 12, pushing BTC’s market capitalization to six times that of ETH. This level of dominance has not been seen since 2020.
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