Largest Ethereum short position ever: is ETH headed for a crash or a short squeeze?
On social media, messages are buzzing: leveraged short positions on Ethereum have reached a new record.
On social media, messages are buzzing: the leveraged short positions on Ethereum have reached a new record.
According to the CFTC Commitment of Traders (CoT) reports, the net positioning (longs minus shorts) of leveraged longs in ETH futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) is now at -18.438. That means speculators have built the largest short position in Ethereum’s history.
Such extreme positioning at first glance points to a strongly negative sentiment among investors. At the same time, it creates the conditions for a potential short squeeze — a scenario where suddenly rising prices force shorts to cover, potentially pushing the price sharply higher.
On July 13, crypto influencer zerohedge already flagged a record level of institutional ETH shorts. Soon after, Ethereum rallied by more than 80%. Yet, the longer-term link is less clear. Since 2023 the indicator has been negative almost continuously, and the number of bearish positions had already surged last year.
A reliable trading signal isn’t the value here. Moreover, it’s unclear how many of these short positions are part of delta-neutral strategies. Hedge funds often pair their shorts with long positions in spot ETFs, so they’re not betting on a single price direction but profiting from arbitrage opportunities.
Additionally, the figures cover only CME futures positions, so they mainly reflect U.S. institutional activity and don’t capture the full market.
Interestingly, the record shorts line up with a clear uptrend in Ethereum. That rally is being driven primarily by strong inflows into spot ETFs and ETH treasuries built by companies like BitMine.
The recent price surge pushed Ethereum close to a new all-time high. At the time of writing, Ether is trading around $4,250.
