Arthur Hayes calls market ‘a bit risky’ and dumps his crypto
Arthur Hayes finds macroeconomics and geopolitics risky and opts for cash. Earlier this month, he was still bullish on Bitcoin.
Former BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes has sold more than $22 million in crypto in a short period of time and is withdrawing from the market for the time being. Remarkably, earlier this month he called on investors to go long on Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH). Why did he make this choice?
The largest sale consisted of 6,400 ETH worth approximately $15.2 million. In addition, Hayes sold 14 million Ethena (ENA) for approximately 2.76 million dollars and 323,000 Uniswap (UNI) for approximately 2.24 million dollars.
Smaller positions in Ether.fi (ETHFI), Aerodrome Finance (AERO), Pendle (PENDLE) and Zama (ZAMA) also went out the door. In total, sales amounted to approximately $22.28 million. Hayes himself confirmed the move on X, leaving little doubt about his mood:
“I dumped everything.”
According to him, it currently looks "a bit risky" on a macroeconomic and geopolitical level. He therefore says to stay on the sidelines for the time being until, according to him, a clearer signal emerges again.
Hayes claims to have taken profits on ETH and ENA. With three recently purchased altcoins, he seems to have suffered a small loss. For Aerodrome, Pendle and Zama, he previously paid around $889,000, while the sale ultimately generated around $856,000.
The step stands out because Hayes sounded positive on 15 October. Then he called on traders to go long on Bitcoin and Ethereum and anticipate possible new liquidity in the financial system.
Since then, sentiment has worsened. Six of the seven tokens Hayes sold were down over the past month. On top of that, oil prices have been rising again recently, fuelling renewed concerns about inflation. That makes the Federal Reserve's next interest rate decision all the more important.
The Fed will announce its new decision tomorrow. The US central bank already raised interest rates to 3.75 to 4 percent in September and the market is currently relying mainly on a pass.
Hayes doesn't seem to want to anticipate that. Where he previously counted on more liquidity and higher crypto prices, he now first opts for cash and looking the cat out of the tree.