After the FED announced a rate cut, major whale wallets began to invest heavily in long positions on Ethereum (ETH), indicating strong confidence in ETH's upward trend while simultaneously increasing overall risk.
Several factors indicate that these long positions may be liquidated soon if effective risk management is not implemented.
How confident are whales in their long Ethereum positions?
Whale behavior provides a clear picture of the current sentiment.
On-chain data tracker Lookonchain reports that a well-known whale considered a Bitcoin OG has expanded its long position on Hyperliquid to 120,094 ETH, with a liquidation price of just 2,234 USD.
This position is showing a PnL loss of over 13.5 million USD in the last 24 hours.
Additionally, another prominent trader, Machi Big Brother, is holding a long position worth 6,000 ETH with a liquidation price of 3,152 USD.
Meanwhile, on-chain data platform Arkham reports that a Chinese whale trader who predicted the market crisis on 10/10 is holding a long position of 300 million USD in ETH on Hyperliquid.
Whale activity opening long positions in ETH reflects expectations for price increases in the short term, but this belief also conceals significant risks due to Ethereum's leverage levels.
ETH leverage has reached dangerously high levels.
Data from CryptoQuant shows that the estimated leverage ratio of ETH on Binance surged to 0.579, a record high. When this level is excessively high, it indicates severe leverage usage, as just a slight price movement can trigger a domino effect.
Such a high leverage ratio means that the volume of open contracts driven by leverage is growing faster than the actual asset volume on the platform. Therefore, when this occurs, the market becomes more sensitive to sudden price movements because each trader is more likely to be forced to sell their assets, both during price increases or decreases, analysts from Arab Chain noted.
Historical data also shows that periods with similarly high ratios often correlate with times when prices experience intense downward pressure and may signal a short-term market price peak.
The softening of the spot market increases risk.
Furthermore, the spot market itself is clearly signaling weakness, as crypto market tracker Wu Blockchain reported that spot trading volume in the main market decreased by 28% in November 2025 compared to October.
Moreover, another report from BeInCrypto indicates that the inflow of stablecoins into exchanges has decreased by 50%, from 158 billion USD in August to 78 billion USD currently.
When combining these factors, low spot market purchases, high leverage, and reduced stablecoin reserves are diminishing the potential for ETH recovery, and ultimately, such a situation may significantly risk the long positions of individual whales being forced to sell.
