Ethereum whale bets $13M on ETH despite $33M losses – Here’s why

Ethereum [ETH] attracted renewed speculative attention after a trader expanded his 25x leveraged ETH long position to 6,325 ETH, valued near $13 million.  Despite facing unrealized losses of more than $33 million, the trader deposited an additional $287,913 USDC into HyperLiquid. This aggressive positioning highlighted growing conviction among derivatives traders, even as ETH continued to struggle below key resistance levels.  However, the move also highlighted rising liquidation risk because extremely leveraged positions remained vulnerable during sharp volatility swings. Market participants increasingly monitored whether whale traders still expected a broader recovery structure from current levels.  Therefore, the expanding position suggested confidence remained active despite Ethereum’s prolonged consolidation phase and weakening higher timeframe structure. Bulls still dominate Binance positioning Binance top trader data continued reflecting strong bullish sentiment across perpetual markets despite Ethereum’s recent weakness.  At press time, long accounts represented 78.38% of total trader positioning, while short accounts remained near 21.62%, pushing the Long/Short Ratio toward 3.63. The imbalance showed leveraged traders still heavily favored upside continuation instead of preparing for a broader correction.  However, crowded long positioning historically increased downside liquidation risks whenever volatility intensified around major resistance levels.  In addition, persistent bullish positioning suggested institutional and high-frequency participants still anticipated recovery attempts toward higher resistance zones despite deteriorating short-term price structure. Ethereum struggles below major resistance Ethereum continued consolidating between the key $2,036 support and the $2,419 resistance zone throughout recent sessions. Price repeatedly defended the lower demand region while failing to establish stronger continuation above nearby recovery levels.  The daily chart reflected weakening structure after ETH rejected higher prices earlier this month near the upper resistance boundary. However, sellers still lacked enough strength to force a decisive breakdown below support.  This range-bound structure increasingly reflected uncertainty across both spot and derivatives markets.  Traders closely monitored whether ETH could reclaim the $2,419 resistance because such recovery would likely improve broader market sentiment. Otherwise, continued rejection below resistance could increase downside pressure toward the lower consolidation boundary again. Directional Movement Index readings continued reflecting bearish control despite Ethereum’s ongoing consolidation near support. At the time of writing, ADX climbed near 30 while the -DI indicator held around 25.58, remaining significantly above the +DI reading near 9.98.  The structure suggested bearish trend strength still dominated current price action even though ETH stabilized above critical support.  Ethereum Funding Rates stay strongly positive At press time, Funding Rates remained firmly positive near 0.0162 as derivatives traders continued favoring long positioning across perpetual markets. The metric climbed more than 55%, reflecting growing willingness among traders to pay premiums for maintaining bullish exposure.  Such conditions usually appeared when speculative confidence strengthened despite uncertain price structure.  However, persistently elevated Funding Rates also increased the probability of volatility-driven liquidations whenever price momentum weakened sharply.  Market participants increasingly evaluated whether bullish derivatives positioning aligned with Ethereum’s relatively weak technical structure near resistance.  To conclude, Ethereum continued attracting aggressive leveraged confidence despite unstable market structure and persistent bearish trend signals.  Binance traders still heavily favored long exposure, while Funding Rates reinforced speculative optimism across derivatives markets. However, ETH remained trapped below the critical $2,419 resistance while DMI readings still favored sellers.  If buyers reclaimed higher resistance levels, Ethereum would likely strengthen recovery conditions further. Otherwise, excessive leverage could increase the probability of another liquidation-driven correction toward lower support zones. Final Summary Ethereum traders continued increasing long exposure despite weakening higher timeframe trend structure. ETH defended key support, though bearish DMI pressure still dominated broader market direction.