Trend Research' s $680M Ether Bet Collapses Amid 30% Price Plunge

Trend Research, a Hong Kong-based trading firm led by Liquid Capital founder Jack Yi, faced a massive loss of $680 million after its leveraged Ethereum (ETH) position collapsed. The firm had built one of crypto's largest private ether positions by borrowing stablecoins from AAVE against ETH collateral.

The strategy worked during rallies but reversed violently when ETH fell 30% in one week. As the price dropped to $1,748 on February 4, Trend Research was forced to liquidate over 400,000 ether to repay its debt, leaving it with an estimated $613 million to $686 million loss.

Trend Research had accumulated ether aggressively after October 2022's $19 billion crypto liquidation event, betting on a sustained recovery. Despite the massive selloff, Yi characterized the move as risk management rather than capitulation and maintained bullish targets of $10,000 for ETH and $200,000 for Bitcoin.