Well-Known Crypto Trader James Fickel Loses $43 Million Shorting Bitcoin Against Ether

An early Ether investor, James Fickel, has lost $43 million betting against bitcoin while believing Ether would perform better.

James Fickel, a popular crypto trader, has lost $43 million this year while trying to profit by going short on bitcoin (BTC). Fickel expected Ether (ETH) to perform better than BTC, thus indulging in a strategy in which they traded WBTC tokens, pegged to BTC prices, for ETH on DeFi protocol Aave. However, it has not fared well for him so far.

Fickel became known in the crypto community as an early ETH investor, buying $400,000 worth of the coins when each was priced at a mere $0.80. He is also the founder of the longevity and neuroscience company Amaranth Foundation.

His trading strategy off-late has “lost ~18,000 $ETH,” posted blockchain analysis firm Lookonchain. The post also mentioned that Fickel borrowed 3,061 WBTC from Aave and exchanged it for 56,445 ETH between January 10 and July 1. Since August 7, he bought 211 WBTC with 12 million USDC tokens and traded 16,000 ETH for 671 WBTC to repay his Aave debt. The post added, “He currently has 2,196 $WBTC($132M) in debt on #Aave, losing ~18,000 $ETH($43.7M) in total!”

While Fickel felt ETH would shadow BTC’s price this year, the opposite transpired. Binance data shows that ETH’s price, relative to BTC’s, dropped by 24% year-to-date (YTD). ETH fell by 9% compared to BTC over the past month.

ETH’s Price Has Not Taken Off After ETF Issuance in the US

Investors expected ETH’s price to take off after the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved spot ETH ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds) in July. However, their launch has not meant much for the asset. On the flip side, BTC ETFs kicked off bullish movement for BTC and the rest of the crypto market. The largest crypto asset reached its new all-time high (ATH) price of over $73,000 a couple of months later.