Smart Money Turns Defensive as Bitcoin Consolidates

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Smart money traders top perpetual futures positions on Hyperliquid. Source: Nansen

While long-term narratives remain contested, short-term positioning tells a more cautious story. Data from Nansen shows that “smart money” traders—tracked for their strong historical returns—are currently net short on most major cryptocurrencies.

The only notable exceptions are Avalanche (AVAX) and Pump.fun’s PUMP token. This defensive stance comes as Bitcoin struggles to recover from a $19 billion liquidation event earlier this year. Although some analysts argue that global liquidity trends could support higher lows over time, professional traders appear to be bracing for near-term volatility rather than betting aggressively on upside.

[madtrader]

Smart money being mostly short tells me this market isn’t as bullish as Crypto Twitter wants it to be