Of 276 Alts, Top Traders Lean Long on Six — and the Shorts in the Rest Are Up $57M Right Now
Columns · · Satoshi Note Editorial
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Reading the Index — analysis pieces that read the Satoshi Index numbers one angle at a time. Figures here are from the October 26, 2026 snapshot at 13:17 KST, 24-hour top 100, four exchanges combined. "Alts" means every listed coin other than BTC, ETH and SOL.
After reading BTC, ETH and SOL one at a time, "what about the rest?" remains. In today's snapshot the rest is 276 coins. We cannot read them one by one, so we ask three questions. Is there any alt the top accounts lean long on? Where is the money? Who is making it?
At a glance
- Take BTC, ETH and SOL out of the October 26 Satoshi Index (Satoshi Note's public board combining the positions of the top-return accounts on Hyperliquid, Lighter, dYdX and Pacifica) and 276 alts remain. Among those held by 30 or more top accounts, only ADA, PAXG, WLFI, TRX, JUP and DOT carry more long money than short.
- Half of the short money sits in four coins: HYPE, ZEC, XRP and NEAR. The alts' combined unrealized PnL is +$57M, most of it from ZEC, XRP, STRK and XPL shorts.
- The column unpacks the rough summary "top traders are short alts" coin by coin. No forecast, no recommendation.
How many alts lean long
Across the 276 coins, long notional totals $109M and short $890M, a ratio no different from BTC and ETH. Coin by coin, 75 have more long money than short and 201 have more short. But many of those 75 are tiny coins held by two or three accounts. Restrict to coins held by 30 or more accounts and 50 remain, of which six have more long money than short.
| Coin | Long · short | Long − short notional |
|---|---|---|
| ADA | 21 · 34 | +$2.3M |
| PAXG (tokenised gold) | 29 · 25 | +$1.7M |
| WLFI | 30 · 23 | +$1.4M |
| TRX | 10 · 27 | +$1.0M |
| JUP | 27 · 13 | +$0.3M |
| DOT | 23 · 7 | +$0.1M |
In all six the margin is a few million dollars at most. ADA and TRX make the list despite having more short accounts, because the long side holds more money. By head count alone BNB (40·33), gold XAU (20·12), ASTER (25·21), ARB (23·20), CRV (23·19) and INJ (20·11) also have more longs, but their short money is larger. Among the alts, the top 100 is "long with money behind it" on six coins, and two of the six are gold or a gold token.
Where the money is
The $890M of alt shorts is not spread evenly. Four coins hold more than half.
| Coin | Long · short | Long notional | Short notional | Unrealized PnL |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HYPE | 51 · 75 | $33M | $183M | −$4.7M |
| ZEC | 35 · 66 | $10M | $195M | +$13.6M |
| XRP | 31 · 54 | $2M | $67M | +$7.1M |
| NEAR | 16 · 75 | $1M | $49M | −$6.9M |
Next come PUMP (21·57, $32M short), DOGE (14·48, $21M short), ZRO (4·44), ENA, XMR, WLD, LIT and XPL. HYPE is the only alt with more than $30M of long notional, and it is still 5.5× short. HYPE is down 17.8% over 30 days; ZEC is up 4.5% over 7 days and down 27.1% over 30.
One thing stands out in the list: not everything in it is a coin. Gold (XAU), silver (XAG), crude oil (WTI) and the gold token PAXG, US indices like QQQ and SPX, and US stocks like NVDA, TSLA, GOOGL, SNDK and SPCX sit in the same table. These exchanges list them as tokenised products, so the Satoshi Index picks them up too. When we say "276 alts," gold and Nvidia are in there, and you should know that before you read the total.
Who is making money
Split today's unrealized PnL into the big coins and the rest:
| Group | Unrealized PnL |
|---|---|
| BTC | −$9.4M |
| ETH | +$11.4M |
| SOL | −$8.0M |
| 276 alts | +$57.0M |
The alt profit comes from shorts. ZEC short +$13.6M, XRP +$7.1M, STRK +$6.7M, XPL +$5.9M, DOGE +$4.2M, WLD +$3.6M, PUMP +$3.0M, FARTCOIN +$2.9M. The losers are NEAR −$6.9M, HYPE −$4.7M, ZRO −$3.2M and LIT −$1.2M. Where the top 100 is in profit right now is not BTC and not SOL; it is shorts in the alts that fell over the past month. Since the 24-hour top 100 is by construction "the accounts that won yesterday," some of that is expected, but that the money came from alts rather than BTC only shows when you open the aggregate.
Switch to the 1-month top 100 and the shape holds: alt long $147M, short $1,315M. Steadily short alts for a month.
276 coins in one line
"Top accounts are short alts" is true but blunt. The accurate line for today's snapshot is: "Of 276 alts, the ones with real money long are ADA, PAXG, WLFI, TRX, JUP and DOT; half the short money is in HYPE, ZEC, XRP and NEAR; and the $57M being made right now is mostly ZEC, XRP, STRK and XPL shorts." Tomorrow it may be a different six and a different four. That is why we count again every day, and the recount is on the coin page.
FAQ
Which alts do top traders lean long on?
Among coins held by 30 or more top accounts, six have more long notional than short on October 26: ADA, PAXG, WLFI, TRX, JUP and DOT. Every other alt has more short money.
Are the alt shorts making money?
In this snapshot, yes. Combined unrealized PnL across the 276 alts is +$57M, mostly from ZEC, XRP, STRK and XPL shorts. It is unrealized and can change by the next refresh.
Where can I see the per-coin numbers?
On the Satoshi Index coin page at satoshinote.io/traders/coins, sortable by head count, notional and unrealized PnL. No login; refreshed every 30 minutes (dYdX every 3 hours).
This is an analysis column written by the Satoshi Note team from Satoshi Index numbers. It does not forecast price or recommend any position in any coin. Per-coin head counts, notional and unrealized PnL can be sorted on the Satoshi Index coin page.