A whale wallet has built a $50.55 million, 25-times leveraged short position in Ethereum (ETH), raising tension in the ether market.

BeInCrypto, a blockchain media outlet, reported on May 17 that wallet 0x50b3 simultaneously held a short position of 23,151 ETH and a 20-times leveraged long position of 323.72 BTC.

The core of the position is a relative-value bet that bitcoin will hold up comparatively while ether will fall further. Lookonchain data put the ether short at $50.55 million and the bitcoin long at $25.27 million. The structure profits if ether remains weak and bitcoin performs relatively better.

Liquidation prices are also in focus. The liquidation price for the ether short was given as $2,288.33, while the liquidation price for the bitcoin long was given as $70,325.36.

At the time, bitcoin was trading around $78,400, leaving relatively ample room to the long position's liquidation level. Ether, by contrast, was around $2,193, putting it less than 5 percent away from the short position's liquidation price. If a short-term rebound fails, the bearish view on ether could persist, but a sharp rebound over a narrow range could put the short under liquidation pressure.

Whales are split on direction. A whale identified as linked to Matrixport increased its ether long position further. The investor continues to hold a long position worth $248.65 million across four wallets, totaling 114,160 ether, after earlier taking $59 million in profit. The current unrealised loss is about $10.3 million. Lookonchain noted that the investor is still adding to the ether long position despite the market decline.

Buying at lower prices by a long-term holder was also confirmed. A so-called "Ethereum OG" wallet, which recorded an 803-times return on past ether investments, has recently resumed buying. The wallet received 11,005 ether from ShapeShift 10 years ago at $3.46 each, then sold all of it about a year ago at $2,777 each to secure $30.56 million. It recently deployed $4.26 million of USD coin to buy 1,951 ether again at $2,182 each.

Spot selling pressure, meanwhile, appeared to be rising. A wallet linked to World Liberty Financial (WLFI) disposed of 4,870 ether for USD coin worth $10.61 million. The transaction price was $2,178. The sale took place about 8 hours before the broader market correction began in earnest.

Exchange inflows seen as institutional money also continued. Two addresses, flagged as possibly linked to Gamma Fund, deposited 10,976 ether worth about $23.9 million to Binance over 1 hour. Lookonchain said whales and institutions were engaging in fear-driven selling, interpreting the large ether deposits by the two wallets as a signal of growing selling pressure.

The near-term variable is whether the $2,200 level holds. The large short position is adding to market tension, but other whale investors are increasing their ether buying around the same level. Ether has entered a zone where opposing whale positions, exchange inflows and bargain buying are confronting each other.

Whether 0x50b3's short remains an early call or ends as a hasty bet depends on how much selling the market absorbs. If ether regains $2,200 and moves closer to the short's liquidation price, short-term volatility could increase. If selling pressure persists, the move to retest downside support could continue.

Whale 0x50b3 is shorting $ETH and going long on $BTC! He opened a 25x short on 23,151 $ETH($50.55M) and a 20x long on 323.72 $BTC($25.27M). Liquidation prices:$ETH: $2,288.33$BTC: $70,325.36https://t.co/jrBwzrcRrP pic.twitter.com/E6Hxl9d8xp