Whales Take Sides Post-Crash as Big Bets Hit BTC, ETH, and ENA

The crypto market wrapped up the weekend in green after a week of mostly downward movement. Over the past 24 hours, total market capitalization rose by 1.1%, signaling a modest recovery.

As prices stabilized, crypto whales became increasingly active across both derivatives and spot markets, suggesting a strategic repositioning amid recent volatility.

Whale Activity Surges as BTC, ETH, and ENA See Diverging Market Bets

A wave of whale activity swept through the derivatives market. Traders were alternating between defensive shorts and high-leverage longs across Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Ethena (ENA) in a bid to stay ahead of volatility.

According to an on-chain analyst, a crypto whale who shorted BTC last week flipped bullish. The whale holds approximately $250 million spread across BTC and ETH. 

The trader’s portfolio includes a 15x long position on 1,610.93 BTC ($173 million) and a 3x long position on 19,894.21 ETH ($77.4 million). Despite suffering earlier losses exceeding $10 million, their unrealized deficit has now narrowed to about $3.1 million.

Meanwhile, some investors have taken the opposite route. A whale deposited 30 million USDC into Hyperliquid and opened a 10x short position on 700 BTC, worth approximately $75.5 million. 

“Entry price $109,133.1, liquidation price $150,082.9, now with unrealized profit of $455,000,” an on-chain analyst posted.

The same investor had previously earned $160 million shorting Bitcoin amid the October 11 crash.

Adding to the bearish sentiment, Andrew Kang linked wallets opened $68 million in new short positions, including 10,275 ETH at 25x leverage and 269 BTC at 40x. 

Interestingly, despite this bearish tilt, Kang has retained his long ENA position, suggesting a selective confidence in certain altcoins. His trades have reportedly netted around $5.6 million in profits over the past week.

Other traders have also shown optimism toward ENA while keeping short positions on the two largest cryptocurrencies. According to data from Lookonchain, a whale identified as 0x579f holds mixed positions worth around $70 million — including shorts of 232 BTC ($25 million) and 5,810 ETH ($22.7 million), alongside a long position of 44.79 million ENA ($21.3 million).

Despite this, some traders remained bearish even on ENA.

A newly created wallet withdrew $4M $USDC from #Coinbase over the past 2 days and opened short positions on $ETH (15x) and $ENA (10x), currently incurring a floating loss of $1.44M

— Onchain Lens

What Did Crypto Whales Buy and Sell After the October Crash?

Spot markets also saw substantial flows as major crypto players repositioned their portfolios, with some seizing the chance to buy the dip. Ethereum treasury firm BitMine made one of the most notable moves, adding $1.5 billion worth of ETH to its holdings. 

The large-scale purchase reveals renewed institutional confidence in Ethereum’s long-term fundamentals despite recent market turbulence.

El Salvador quietly increased its Bitcoin reserves, purchasing 8 additional BTC over the past week. The Central American nation now holds a total of 6,355.18 BTC. Meanwhile, exchange data reflects steady accumulation across the board. 

Major centralized exchanges recorded a net outflow of roughly 21,000 BTC over the past week. Coinbase Pro and Binance led the trend, with 15,000 BTC and 12,000 BTC withdrawn, respectively.

Activity wasn’t limited to the top two cryptocurrencies. In the Chainlink (LINK) ecosystem, a newly created wallet withdrew 142,428 LINK (worth around $2.4 million) from Binance.

“It looks like LINK was accumulated. Within 12 hours, there were 892.46k $LINK (~$15M) withdrawn from Binance. Within past week, 2.31M $LINK (~$40.76M) were withdrawn from Binance,” another analyst reported.

The combination of high-leverage positioning in derivatives markets and steady accumulation in spot markets highlights a divided yet dynamic space. While some whales are betting on further downside, others are quietly building positions, suggesting confidence that the worst of October’s volatility may be behind them.