Crypto Millionaire James Fickel Loses $43 Million On Ethereum Long Bet After Missing $17.2 Million Profit Opportunity

Crypto
millionaire
James
Fickel
lost
$43
million
on
a
long
bet
on
Ethereum
after
missing
an
opportunity
to
take
a
$17.2
million
profit
just
four
days
into
the
trade.

Fickel,
who
is
the
founder
of

Amaranth
Foundation
and
a
crypto
whale
investor,
bet
on
Ethereum
outperforming
Bitcoin
in
January,
according
to
analytics
firm
Lookonchain.

It
said
in
a
Sept.
14
post
on
X
that
Fickel

borrowed
3,061
Wrapped
Bitcoin
(WBTC0
worth
$172
million
from
the
Aave
lending
protocol
and
exchanged
it
for
56,445
ETH
at
0.05424
per
coin
as
he
bet
that
the
ETH
price
would
rise

Fickel’s
Ethereum
Trade
Started
Out
Well

Though
the
trade
initially
went
well,
it
quickly
soured,
leaving
Fickel
with
a
huge
loss.
After
taking
out
the
the
loan
to
purchase
Ether,
the
ETH/BTC
pair
tumbled
more
than
25%.

“He
currently
has
2,196


$WBTC($132M)
in
debt
on


#Aave,
losing
~18,000


$ETH($43.7M)
in
total!,”
Lookonchain
said.

James
Fickel(@jamesfickel)
lost
~18,000

$ETH($43.7M)
by
going
long
the
BTC/ETH
trading
pair!

From
Jan
10
to
July
1,
he
borrowed
3,061

$WBTC(172M)
from

#Aave
and
exchanged
it
for
56,445

$ETH
at
a
rate
of
0.05424.

Since
Aug
7,
he
spent
12M

$USDC
to
buy
211

$WBTC
and
exchanged…

pic.twitter.com/9DgLjisPgp

—
Lookonchain
(@lookonchain)

September
14,
2024

Fickel
is
now
$132
million
in
debt
on
the
trade.
In
the
past
11
hours,
he
has
repaid
over
$30
million
to
Aave,
reducing
the
outstanding
loan
to
$102
million.  

Despite
opening
the
trade
on
January
10
during
a
spike
in
the


Ethereum
price,
Fickel’s
sat
on
a
loss
since
March
13,
according
to
data
from
TradingView.

The
crypto
millionaire
failed
to
book
10%
profits
on
his
ETH/BTC
position
twice
in
74
days.

Fickel
was
in
April

ranked
by
Arkham
Intelligence
as
the
5th
richest
person
in
crypto
based
on
their
wallet
balances,
with
a
total
wallet
net
worth
of
$446
million.

Related
Articles