Data: Hedge funds are shorting Ethereum on CME for basis arbitrage

On July 14th, according to data from the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), hedge funds shorted $1.73 billion worth of Ethereum on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), which is favored by institutional traders. CME data also shows that Ethereum's net leveraged position is heavily biased towards short positions. It is reported that basis trading refers to shorting a certain asset on one platform while buying on another platform to maintain Delta neutrality in price fluctuations. In this example, traders can earn an annualized return of approximately 9.5% by shorting ETH on CME and buying a spot ETF (currently managing assets of approximately $12 billion). In addition, traders who short ETH can earn an additional annualized return of approximately 3.5% by buying spot ETH and pledging it. It is worth noting that buyers of spot ETFs cannot choose this method as Ethereum spot ETFs currently do not support staking services.