Wintermute’s Hyperliquid shorts reach $126M across ETH, BTC and SOL

A wallet linked to Wintermute has built roughly $126.25 million in short positions on Hyperliquid, with a $46.92 million Ethereum short making up the largest reported exposure as major cryptocurrencies trade below recent highs.

• Wintermute-linked wallet holds $126.25 million in shorts, with Ethereum representing its largest reported position currently.
• Ethereum short exposure stands near $46.92 million, while Solana and HYPE positions exceed $10 million.
• Onchain Lens reports tracked positions carry roughly $963,600 in unrealized profit at its latest snapshot.
• CoinGecko shows Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana and HYPE trading near or below their weekly highs Monday.
• FTX and Alameda-linked wallets transferred 27,372 ETH to Wintermute, though the transfer purpose remains unconfirmed.

Onchain Lens reported on Sept. 28 that the tracked account held shorts across several crypto assets and was sitting on roughly $963,600 in unrealized profit when the snapshot was taken. The analytics account put the wallet's lifetime profit and loss at approximately $197.22 million.

The address, 0xecb63caa47c7c4e77f60f1ce858cf28dc2b82b00, has repeatedly been identified by on-chain researchers as a Wintermute-linked Hyperliquid wallet. Wintermute has not publicly confirmed ownership of the address or described the purpose of the current positions.

Previous analysis of the Wintermute-linked Hyperliquid short book found the same address carrying substantially larger bearish exposure in August, including shorts in ETH, BTC, SOL, HYPE and XRP.

Wintermute shorts remain concentrated in Ethereum

Ethereum accounted for $46.92 million of the latest reported short exposure, according to Onchain Lens. SOL followed with an $11.30 million position, while HYPE accounted for approximately $10.03 million.

WINTERMUTE OPENS $126M IN SHORTS

Wintermute is short $126.25M across Hyperliquid, led by a $46.92M $ETH short.

Largest positions:

· $ETH short: $46.92M

· $SOL short: $11.30M

· $HYPE short: $10.03M

The positions are currently up ~$963.6K, while lifetime PnL stands at +$197.22M.... pic.twitter.com/fDLoWSn2Jg --- Onchain Lens (@OnchainLens) September 28, 2026

Other positions make up the remainder of the reported $126.25 million total, though Onchain Lens did not provide a complete position-by-position breakdown in its latest post.

Data collected from the same address over previous months shows that its exposure can change quickly. An independent analysis of the wallet identified extensive activity across Hyperliquid markets, with hundreds of orders used for both sides of market-making books.

The analysis found Wintermute-linked bids and asks spread across dozens of assets, including BTC, ETH, SOL and HYPE. It described the quoting structure as close to balanced at the time of its January snapshot, with roughly $101.7 million of bid orders and $97.2 million of asks.

For that reason, a visible short position does not by itself establish that Wintermute expects an asset's price to fall. Market makers can hedge spot inventory, options, client flows or exposure held across other venues with perpetual futures.

Crypto.news previously examined the same issue when a Wintermute-linked wallet carried $190.77 million in Hyperliquid shorts in August. At that point, ETH led the account's short positions at roughly $53.02 million, followed by BTC and SOL. Wintermute did not publicly confirm the positions at the time.

ETH, SOL and HYPE trade below recent peaks

The current positioning comes as Ethereum has pulled back from the $2,800 region reached earlier in September.

CoinGecko shows ETH trading around $2,644 at the time of writing, placing the asset below its recent $2,800 attempt. Ethereum had already slipped below $2,700 on Sept. 23 after the advance stalled.

The Ethereum pullback after rejection near $2,800 came after the token reached a multiweek high before sellers pushed prices lower.

Bitcoin was trading around $82,863, according to CoinGecko data, down roughly 2.4% over the previous 24 hours at the retrieved reading.

SOL stood near $118.06 on CoinGecko data, while HYPE traded around $92.28.

CoinGecko shows HYPE remaining close to its recent record area despite the latest pullback. The token has traded above $90 after reaching prices near $98 during September.

Recent HYPE treasury purchases and whale transfers have kept large-wallet activity in focus. Hyperliquid Strategies bought 494,200 HYPE worth $45.8 million in one disclosed transaction, while several large holders began unstaking tokens.

Wintermute short exposure has changed repeatedly

The latest $126.25 million figure is below some earlier snapshots of the same wallet.

On Sept. 20, third-party reports put its short exposure close to $146 million, with ETH near $53 million, BTC at approximately $26.7 million and SOL around $17.8 million.

By Sept. 23, on-chain analyst CW said the wallet was increasing short exposure in ETH, BTC and SOL while prices were rising.

Wintermute continues to maintain a short position on $BTC, $ETH, $SOL etc., making resistance against the current upward trend.

They are exerting downward pressure by increasing their short positions as the price rises.

If this downward pressure disappear, the upward momentum... https://t.co/k7s3e6Xjnm pic.twitter.com/bAKikxVlHv --- CW (@CW8900) September 23, 2026

CW described the positioning as downward pressure on the market. However, that interpretation has not been confirmed by Wintermute and should not be treated as evidence that the market maker was deliberately attempting to push prices lower.

The tracked positions have moved in both directions over time. Earlier wallet data showed short exposure being reduced during market pullbacks before positions increased again as prices recovered.

Public Hyperliquid data make positions on individual accounts visible, but they do not show all offsetting exposure a firm may hold elsewhere. Wintermute operates across centralized exchanges, decentralized venues and over-the-counter markets, leaving open the possibility that its Hyperliquid positions form one part of a larger hedging book.

Wintermute reported earlier this year that institutional clients represented a growing share of its OTC activity. The firm's institutional OTC trading flow reached 72% of spot volume during the first half of 2026.

Alameda transferred ETH to Wintermute before latest shorts

The reported positioning follows a separate large Ethereum transfer involving wallets tied to FTX and Alameda Research.

On Sept. 23, blockchain researchers tracked 23,639 ETH worth roughly $65 million moving from an FTX and Alameda-linked address to a wallet labeled as belonging to Wintermute.

A broader review found six linked wallets transferring a combined 27,372 ETH, worth approximately $75 million at the time, to Wintermute addresses. Blockchain security firm PeckShield flagged the largest 23,639 ETH transaction.

JUST IN: Alameda Research moves $65 million worth of ETH to Wintermute

The FTX bankruptcy estate deposited 23,639 $ETH into Wintermute earlier today, with the transfer reportedly linked to a potential sale. pic.twitter.com/P8m36l7XsH --- crypto.news (@cryptodotnews) September 23, 2026

Neither Wintermute nor the FTX Recovery Trust has publicly confirmed that the transfer represented an immediate sale. On-chain movements into a market maker can support sales, OTC execution, collateral management, hedging or other trading functions.

Past FTX and Alameda transfers involving Wintermute show that estate-linked wallets have used the market maker in earlier asset movements. In October 2023, FTX and Alameda addresses transferred crypto worth approximately $10 million to Coinbase, Binance and Wintermute-linked destinations.

The Sept. 23 ETH movement therefore remains separate from the latest Hyperliquid short snapshot unless further wallet data or disclosures establish a direct connection between the transferred Ether and the derivatives exposure.

Disclosure: This article does not represent investment advice. The content and materials featured on this page are for educational purposes only.
Read more: MEXC account hack: How did a user lose $340K?