The Ethereum price has followed Bitcoin’s lead and has seen a 10.3% price increase over the past seven days. News of BlackRock’s Bitcoin spot ETF filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission took the entire market by surprise and also breathed new life into altcoins. For one trader on the decentralized perpetual exchange GMX, however, the news is not really good news, but rather a nightmare.

Ethereum Short Seller Getting Rekt?

The largest short seller on GMX is using 6.64x leverage to short Ether (ETH) at an entry price of $1,703.97. A total of $1.8 million of collateral is at stake for the anonymous trader. At press time, the position was down 77.4% for a total of -$1.416 million.

As it stands, the trader’s short position of about $12 million in ETH will be liquidated when the Ethereum price reaches $1,945.18. According to a report from Chinese journalist Colin Wu, it could be the owner of rebelvarma.lens.

As popular analyst An Ape’s Prologue speculates, the ETH short seller could even double down on his bet. As the analyst writes, the consensus assumes that the short position will be liquidated when ETH reaches $1945. However, there are limit orders that could add a total of $149,000 to the trader’s collateral within the $1935 and $1945 price range. If triggered, this could increase the liquidation price to around $1967.

The analyst’s chart below shows how his liquidation price changes with ETH price swings. Until Ethereum reaches $1935, the liquidation price remains at $1945, but limit orders are triggered when ETH enters the $1935 and $1945 range, increasing the liquidation price to $1967.

In addition, the analyst notes that the address holds about $224,000 worth of other assets spread across Arbitrum and the Binance Smart Chain: $90,000 in USDT, $51,000 in USDC, $64,000 in WBTC and $21,500 in AAVE.

“With a history of mitigating liquidation risk by bridging tokens from other chains to Arbitrum for collateral, we’ll probably see a similar strategy if ETH prices increase. The $224k in available assets could be used to top up collateral in this scenario,” the analyst notes.

If the ETH short seller uses up all of its assets and puts them up as collateral, the maximum liquidation price could rise to around $2,000, representing a further 6.5% price increase from the current price. Hence, Twitter user @apes_prologue concludes:

While his position appears risky, the danger of liquidation is not as imminent as popularly believed, as he has mechanisms at his disposal to protect his position. Additionally, it is also possible he could have hedged his position in other markets that we are unaware of.

ETH On The Verge Of Breaking Above $2,000?

Rumors are circulating in the crypto community that the liquidation of the GMX short-seller could trigger a breakout of ETH above $2,000. The 1-hour chart of Ether shows that the price is currently stuck in the price range between $1,964 and $1,930 for the moment. A breakout to the upside or downside could be decisive for the next move.

A look at the 1-day chart reveals that a breakout above $1,930 does not necessarily mean a follow-through to above $2,000. The 78.6% Fibonacci retracement level is at $1,975, where major resistance is expected. Ethereum bulls can only target the psychologically important $2,000 level if they break out above this price level.

Featured image from iStock, chart from TradingView.com

Non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace Cent has shut down. It mentioned ‘rampant’ fakes and plagiarism problems as the reason behind the step, according to various media reports. “There’s a spectrum of activity that is happening that basically shouldn’t be happening – like, legally,” said Cameron Hejazi, CEO and co-founder of the NFT marketplace Cent. 

Ahead of Valentine’s Day, cybercriminals are targeting individuals under the pretext of romance, but with a new twist involving cryptocurrencies. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has issued a warning against the rise of romance scams during Valentine’s week, with the latest trend involving digital assets, according to various media reports.  

Intel on Friday launched a new chip for blockchain applications such as Bitcoin mining and minting NFTs to cash in on the rising usage of cryptocurrencies, according to various media reports.   

Meanwhile, in the cryptocurrency market, the price of Bitcoin (BTC) was down by 2.58 per cent. The cryptocurrency was trading at $42,317.39 at 6:00 pm. Its dominance in the crypto market is currently at 41.94 per cent, up by 0.20 per cent in the last 24 hours, according to Coinmarketcap.com.    

Ethereum (ETH) was trading at $2,919.81, with a fall of 5.90 per cent in the last 24 hours, while Binance Coin (BNB) was down by 3.59 per cent over the same period and was trading at $400.30. Solana (SOL) was down by 9.11 per cent to $95.83 and Cardano (ADA) was down by 7.93 per cent to $1.06. 

Meme Coins    

In line with the major cryptocurrencies, most leading meme coins such as Dogecoin (DOGE), Shiba Inu (SHIB), Dogelon Mars (ELON), and Samoyedcoin (SAMO) also saw prices slide down in the last 24 hours.   

Dogecoin was down by 6.34 per cent; and was trading at $0.1429 at 6:00 pm. Rival Shiba Inu was down by 8.37 per cent and was trading at $0.0000284. Dogelon Mars was down by 10.01 per cent and was trading at $0.000000934, while Samoyedcoin was trading at $0.0254, recording a sharper fall of 9.47 per cent.    

Overall Scenario    

The global crypto market cap was at $1.70 trillion, registering a decrease of 13.82 per cent in the last 24 hours, while the total crypto market volume was $51.58 billion, down by 54.62 per cent.   

MONNFTS (MON) became the biggest gainer, recording a rise of 899.74 per cent. It was trading at $0.0689 at 6:00 pm, as per Coinmarketcap data. In contrast, Green Chart (GREEN) witnessed the maximum loss, falling 87.62 per cent. According to Coinmarketcap, it was trading at $0.000001587.