Arthur Hayes, the BitMEX co-founder, said he has sold all ENA held in the directional book of his investment fund, Maelstrom. According to Protos, ENA was trading at $0.198 this month when Hayes disclosed the sale, a level roughly 98% below the $10 target he had promoted repeatedly in earlier calls.
A long run of bullish ENA calls ended below $0.20
Protos said Hayes had promoted Ethena’s ENA for years. Starting in early 2024, he repeatedly predicted the token would reach $10, yet he did not acknowledge selling until ENA had fallen below $0.20.
On April 2, 2024, Hayes wrote, " $ENA = $10." The next day, he added, "the Koreans aren’t even involved yet," and urged followers to "count to $10 for $ENA." On May 7, 2024, he repeated the $10 target. On May 25, he mocked doubters with the line, "Cope harder."
On June 20, 2024, Hayes called ENA "an integral part of the CeFi and DeFi trading ecosystem." Protos said the token’s price has fallen by two-thirds since then.
In September 2024, during a Token2049 conference speech, Hayes said he remained heavily invested in ENA. On December 6, 2024, with ENA trading near $1, he doubled down on the $10 forecast.
He kept backing ENA through 2025
Hayes did not soften that stance at the start of 2025. On February 5, he said his fund owned "large amounts" of ENA. On July 11, he tried to rally interest again with, "It’s time for liftoff." On August 13, he said ENA would "moon."
On August 26, with ENA below $0.70, he argued that "ENA can 51x from the current levels." By September, Protos said he had dropped the idea of a four-digit percentage rally, but he was still calling for a major move higher.
On September 8, he forecast ENA would rise to at least $1.50, then repeated that target the next morning. On September 24, he told his audience, "Buy ENA." On December 19, he called ENA his favorite altcoin.
Targets came down in 2026 before the full exit
By 2026, Protos said Hayes’ target had already fallen 90% from the original $10 call, and it would move lower still.
On January 14 this year, he wrote, "It’s time for ENA = $1." After a months-long slide, he said ENA would at least rebound to $0.50. On September 25, he returned to the $1 target and reiterated it again on September 28.
Then came the exit. With ENA trading at $0.198 this month, Hayes posted that he had sold all ENA from Maelstrom’s directional fund.
What Hayes said in the sale post
His post read: "I dumped it all. The Maelstrom directional book, took profits on $ETH, $ENA, $UNI and other shitcoins. I think we gotta go down to go up. It looks a bit dicey out there in macro and geopolitical land. Going to sit on the sidelines and wait for the all clear signal … Brrrrr."
That post was dated October 24, 2026. As laid out by Protos, Hayes’ public ENA targets moved from $10 in 2024 to $1 and $0.50 in 2026, but the price tied to his disclosed exit was still only $0.198.
