Arthur Hayes Says He Sold Maelstrom’s Directional Book

Arthur Hayes said he sold Maelstrom’s directional trading book on Oct. 24, taking profits on Ether, Ethena and Uniswap tokens and moving to the sidelines because of macroeconomic and geopolitical risks.

The announcement accompanied transfers from Hayes-linked wallets involving 8,000 $ETH and six other tokens. Ethereum transaction records show the $ETH leaving in four transfers between 1:55 a.m. and 2:14 a.m. ET, including deposits to addresses labelled for Binance, Galaxy Digital and FalconX.

“I dumped it all. The Maelstrom directional book, took profits on $ETH, $ENA, $UNI and other shitcoins,” Hayes wrote on X at 2:18 a.m. ET. “I think we gotta go down to go up.” The announcement contrasts with his Oct. 15 positioning, when he wrote “Long $BTC $ETH” while anticipating an eventual multitrillion-dollar bailout.

Tokens Move to Trading Counterparties

Etherscan’s token-transfer records show the address ending `447e21` sent 14 million $ENA to a Binance-labelled deposit address, 323,000 $UNI and 3 million $ZAMA to a Wintermute-labelled address, 1.89 million ETHFI to an address Arkham labels as a FalconX deposit, and 120,000 PENDLE to an address ending `89532`. The $UNI and $ZAMA totals each include an initial one-token transfer.

On Base, the same address sent 546,610 AERO, including a one-token transfer, to the same Binance-labelled address. The six-token outflows occurred between 1:34 a.m. and 1:46 a.m. ET.

The $ETH moved from a separate address ending `8214D`, which had received 8,012 $ETH from `447e21` on Oct. 14 ET. Its four outgoing transfers comprised 3,200 $ETH to the Arkham-labelled Galaxy Digital deposit, 1,600 $ETH to Binance, 1,600 $ETH to the FalconX-labelled deposit, and 1,600 $ETH to `89532`. Arkham identifies Flowdesk as that last address’s first funder on Avalanche.

The wallet attribution rests on Arkham’s Arthur Hayes label and Etherscan’s “Arthur Hayes 4” tag for `447e21`, together with its funding link to `8214D`. Transfers to trading counterparties do not by themselves establish executed sales or execution prices; Hayes’s statement supplies the confirmation that he exited the trading book.

There was also a return flow: a Wintermute-labelled wallet sent 2,425,850 USDC to `447e21` at 1:49 a.m. ET, after the $UNI and $ZAMA transfers. The record does not specify which trades that payment settled.

Hayes’s reference to the directional book should not be read as a liquidation of every crypto holding. The labelled wallet still held about 14.45 million $ENA after the transfers.

Hayes previously announced full exits from HYPE and NEAR in June, also citing macro risks. This time, he said: “Going to sit on the sidelines and wait for the all clear signal.”