Although the entire cryptocurrency market is in the red on Thursday morning, some altcoins have taken it worse than others, and the largest of the bunch is among them.
ETH just slumped to $2,315 (on Bitstamp), down $200 for the day. This became its lowest price tag since the breakout rally in the middle of August.
Wintermute and OI
The reasons behind the overall market crash are quite diverse, as reported earlier. They range from the broader crash in Asia, such as KOSPI’s 8% plunge, and the 6% decline in the Nikkei, to macro pressure from the CPI announcement yesterday, and fresh reports that the US may be developing a bigger non-nuclear weapon to target Iran.
For ETH, though, there are some isolated reasons. For instance, the open interest skyrocketed yesterday after the slightly higher-than-expected CPI reading. Daan Crypto Traders reported that “a lot of shorts” emerged that “piled into the downside momentum.” Moreover, they were “sitting comfy and steady,” leaving little room for a short squeeze.
Separately, one of the largest market makers, Wintermute, continues to build on its short ETH positions. Onchain Lens noted that the company currently holds $75 million worth of shorts on Hyperliquid, and ETH is among the largest positions.
WINTERMUTE HOLDS $75.45M IN SHORTS ON HYPERLIQUID
Wintermute currently holds $87.34M in open positions, with 86.4% of its exposure on the short side.
· Shorts: $75.45M (86.4%)
· Longs: $11.89M (13.6%)
· Unrealized PnL: +$3.97M
· Lifetime PnL: +$209.79MIts largest shorts include ETH ($18.33M), SOL ($12.07M), and SP500 ($10.72M).
Address: 0xecb63caa47c7c4e77f60f1ce858cf28dc2b82b00
— Onchain Lens (@OnchainLens) October 15, 2026
The other ETH-centered reason came from the ETFs. After gaining nearly $25 million in net inflows on Tuesday, the funds turned red yesterday, with almost $130 million leaving.
Over $290M Wrecked
The building OI and extreme price moves led to an expected uptick in the total liquidated positions across the entire market. The situation for ETH is actually worse, as it leads the trend.
Data from CoinGlass shows that $293 million worth of leveraged positions has been wiped out in the past 24 hours. Naturally, the lion’s share is from longs (92%). BTC is second, with $203 million.
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