The Bitfinex cryptocurrency exchange on Friday saw the first ever major long close on Ethereum.
As you can see in the graph, since August 2017, the indicator has been growing most of the time, and the rise was especially rapid in early 2020. During the year, open interest grew from 500,000 ETH to 2.13 million ETH. Over the past day, the volume of such positions has decreased by 600,000 ETH ($ 712 million) or 32%. The decline from the peak is 900,000 ETH.
This aspect has already piqued the interest of market participants, since the volume of positions grew regardless of the behavior of ETH. Versions have been put forward that Bitfinex can be used to maintain the ETH rate. At the same time, many expressed concern that a cascading liquidation could cause a collapse in the cryptocurrency rate. However, the first major closure occurred right now, when Ether was trading near its historic highs of around $ 1,300.
Bitfinex is remarkable in this regard, as it publicly discloses information on the volumes of margin positions. It is worth noting that such directional dynamics is not observed in the Bitcoin market and for short positions on Ethereum.
“What’s going on at Bitfinex with a long open interest on Ethereum? – analysts ask. – Is our alpha whale closing its huge position since last year? Data glitch? Market behavior does not support this data. ”
It is possible that the positions were demanded by their holder, that is, he received a payment in ETH and thus avoided the need to carry out calculations on the market, which would have a dramatically negative impact on the price of the cryptocurrency. Something similar happened with short positions on bitcoin in 2019.
Over the past 24 hours, the ether rate has dropped by 2% to $ 1,200 at the time of publication. Over the past 90 days, the price has increased by 250%.
UPD: Since the publication of this publication, the volume of positions has decreased by another 854,000 ETH. Thus, the entire increase in 2020 was eliminated. The fall from the peak is 84%.
“There are many scenarios. One of them is bullish for ETH. But let’s focus on listing ETH futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange on February 8th. ” calls on one of the analysts.

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