In the wild world of crypto, where prices can swing like a pendulum, big players like Abraxas Capital are making serious bank by betting against the hype. A recent tweet from OnchainLens highlighted how this London-based digital asset management firm is holding short positions in two wallets on Hyperliquid, a popular perpetual futures platform. They're sitting on a floating profit of about $76.83 million, with total gains from these shorts exceeding $269 million. That's no small change—it's a masterclass in navigating bearish markets.
For those new to the game, shorting means borrowing an asset and selling it now, hoping to buy it back cheaper later to pocket the difference. It's a strategy that thrives when prices drop, which is exactly what's happening in the current crypto slump. Abraxas, known for managing over $3 billion in assets and being regulated by the UK's FCA, has been spotted accumulating Ethereum and other majors in the past, but here they're going the opposite way on Hyperliquid.
Looking at the dashboards shared in the thread, one wallet boasts a total account value of over $101 million, with a staggering $161 million in total profit and loss (PnL). The position is heavily short-biased, with 99.98% exposure to shorts and a return on equity (ROE) of +249%. The other wallet, valued at around $25 million, shows an even more impressive ROE of +1,182%, with a neutral direction bias but still dominated by shorts.
But what's really juicy for meme coin enthusiasts? The specific positions. These wallets are shorting a mix of blue-chip cryptos like ETH, BTC, SOL, and SUI, but they're also targeting meme tokens such as FARTCOIN and PUMP. FARTCOIN, a Solana-based meme coin that's as absurd as it sounds, is down big in one wallet with a position value of $3.22 million and an unrealized PnL (uPnL) of +$1.43 million. PUMP, likely referring to the Pump.fun ecosystem token, shows similar gains from shorts.
In the other wallet, shorts on FARTCOIN yield +$1.09 million uPnL, and PUMP adds +$1.52 million. These aren't random picks—meme coins are notoriously volatile, often pumping on hype and dumping hard in bear markets. By shorting them, Abraxas is essentially betting that the fun won't last.
A reply in the thread from CryptoRelic points out that these are "delta neutral accounts." Delta neutral is a hedging strategy where the overall position is balanced to minimize risk from price movements. In simple terms, they might have longs elsewhere offsetting these shorts, making the setup less risky than it appears. This aligns with Abraxas's reputation for sophisticated strategies, as seen in past news where they faced unrealized losses on massive shorts but bounced back.
Hyperliquid, the platform here, is a decentralized perpetual exchange built for high-speed trading. It allows leverage up to 50x on some pairs, which explains the cross 10x and 5x notations in the positions. Tools like Hyperbot.network make it easy to track these onchain activities, giving retail traders a peek into whale moves.
What does this mean for meme coin holders? If heavyweights like Abraxas are shorting, it could signal more downside. But remember, crypto is unpredictable— a sudden pump could liquidate these positions. Always do your own research and consider the risks.
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