Arthur Hayes Sells $22 Million in Crypto as Bitcoin Slips Toward $80,000

Arthur Hayes, the co-founder of BitMEX and one of crypto's best-known traders, says he has sold his entire trading book: about $22 million in Ethereum, Ethena, Uniswap and other tokens. At the same time, Bitcoin has slipped to around $81,000 and investors are pulling money out of crypto ETFs. Here's what happened today and why it matters.

Last updated October 24, 2026. This is a developing story.

What Arthur Hayes sold

On October 24, Hayes said on X that he had closed all his directional positions at Maelstrom, his family office. On-chain tracker Lookonchain estimated the sales at about $22.3 million across seven tokens. The biggest ones:

• 6,400 ETH, worth about $15.2 million
• 14 million ENA (Ethena), about $2.8 million
• 323,000 UNI (Uniswap), about $2.2 million

Why he sold

Hayes said the macro and geopolitical situation looks "a bit dicey" and that he'll stay on the sidelines until things look safer. He also said the market may need to go down before it can go up. He didn't name a specific event, and he didn't give a price target or say when he might buy back in.

It's a quick change of mind: some outlets pointed out that only nine days earlier, Hayes had said publicly that he was holding Bitcoin and Ether. He has changed course before, so this may not be his final word.

What the rest of the market is doing

• Bitcoin is trading around $80,500 to $81,600 this morning, down about 1% on the day and well below its October high of about $87,400.
• It has fallen below its 50-day average (about $81,800) for the first time in 66 days, a level many traders watch.
• Bitcoin ETFs saw about $635 million of outflows on October 22 alone, according to Cointelegraph, and around $773 million over Thursday and Friday, according to CoinCentral.
• Ethereum is around $2,375, down more than 12% over the past month.
• Solana is near $102, and Solana ETFs lost about $30 million in five trading days.

Reports also point to a nervous mood ahead of the next Federal Reserve decision and weaker sentiment around tech and AI stocks. Those are the backdrop, not reasons Hayes gave himself.

What it means for normal investors

One famous trader selling doesn't decide where the market goes. Big names buy and sell all the time, and Hayes himself has flipped his view more than once. But when a well-known trader, ETF outflows and a key Bitcoin level all line up on the same day, it's a good reminder of a few basics:

• Don't panic-sell or panic-buy because of one headline.
• Only invest what you can afford to lose. Altcoins and memecoins usually fall harder than Bitcoin when the market drops.
• Be extra careful with "buy the dip" offers and presales that pop up on days like this. Many of them are scams.

My take

As someone with a small coin on Monad, I feel these days too. When Bitcoin wobbles, everything smaller wobbles more. I don't think one trader's exit is a reason to sell everything, but I do think it's a good day to check your risk and ignore the noise. I'll update this article if Hayes or the market makes another big move.