Coinbase Institutional Research President David Duong said that the claims of “the largest Ethereum (ETH) short position in history”, which have been on the agenda in the cryptocurrency market in recent days, do not reflect the truth.
According to Duong, these comments, based on data from the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), actually point to arbitrage strategies by institutional investors.
According to CFTC cash-secured fund data, leveraged funds’ ETH short positions on the CME rose from $466 million in early May to $1.6 billion as of June 24. This $1.14 billion increase is almost identical to the net $1.16 billion inflow into spot Ethereum ETFs in June.
Duong said this parallel is no coincidence, arguing that the increasing institutional interest in ETH spot ETFs is triggered by the base yield difference on the CME. The yield difference between spot and futures prices, which was 6% on an annual basis in February, increased to 8%-9% in May and June. According to Duong, this situation presented an attractive opportunity for institutional investors looking to arbitrage: buying spot ETH and selling futures ETH at the same time.
Ultimately, according to Duong’s analysis, the increase in short positions on CME is not a reflection of negative expectations for Ethereum, but rather institutional arbitrage activity. Therefore, the presentation of this situation as “the largest short position in history” does not reflect market reality, according to Duong.
*This is not investment advice.
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