Whale reverse operation: Going long on BTC and short on ETH, with a hedged position exceeding $29 million

On January 20th, according to the latest monitoring data, a whale marked as “Lightning Reversal” is engaging in an interesting hedging operation. This account is simultaneously short 6355 ETH (approximately $20.27 million) with 25x leverage and long 99.8 BTC (approximately $9.23 million) with 20x leverage, with a total position size exceeding $29 million. This is not a simple risk hedge but an intuitive reflection of differing judgments on the trends of BTC and ETH.

The “Lightning Reversal” Logic of the Whale

Transition from Take Profit to Position Building in 24 Hours

This whale’s operation pace is very fast. According to on-chain data, on January 19th, he was still closing positions to take profit — closing 10,800 ETH shorts and realizing a profit of $1.085 million. Less than 24 hours later, on January 20th, he opened new hedging positions. This “lightning reversal” style reflects this account’s sensitive grasp of market rhythm.

Market Judgment Behind the Hedge

Simultaneously taking long and short hedging strategies can have several possibilities:

• Bullish on BTC relative performance: Long BTC and short ETH suggests this whale believes BTC will perform better in the upcoming market, or that ETH has downside risk
• Risk exposure management: In highly uncertain markets, hedging can lock in some risks while maintaining judgment on a particular direction
• Leverage configuration differences: Using 20x leverage for BTC long and 25x for ETH short indicates different risk assessments for the two positions

Current Position Status

Based on the current unrealized loss, this hedging position is still in a loss state. This may indicate that the actual market trend deviates from the whale’s initial judgment.

Market Significance of Strategy Adjustment

Historical Behavior Pattern

From related information, the “lightning reversal” whale’s recent behavior shows obvious “trial and error” characteristics:

• On January 19th, he reduced positions due to BTC long position unrealized losses exceeding 50%
• On the same day, closed ETH short to take profit, locking in $1.085 million profit
• On January 20th, quickly opened new hedging positions

This rhythm indicates that this account is actively adjusting its strategy rather than passively holding positions.

Insights for Leverage Traders

This whale’s operation reflects several noteworthy features:

• Flexible take-profit mechanism: No greed, close positions when profitable
• Active averaging down: Increase positions during losses to lower average cost
• Rapid strategy iteration: Quickly adjust direction based on market changes

Follow-up Focus

The subsequent trend of this hedging position requires attention to several aspects:

• Whether BTC can break through the current price level to validate the long judgment
• Whether ETH will decline as expected to validate the short judgment
• Whether the whale will continue to average down or close positions to take profit
• Risk management strategies under high leverage configurations

Summary

The “lightning reversal” whale’s hedging operation reflects the real-time judgment of large on-chain traders on the current market — optimistic about BTC’s relative performance while cautious on ETH. Based on its historical behavior, this account is an active trader, skilled at quick take-profit and averaging down operations. Although the current position is in an unrealized loss, this is characteristic of hedging strategies — sacrificing some losses to gain certainty in risk management. It is worth continuing to observe this whale’s next moves, as they often reflect the latest on-chain large trader insights into the market.