How and Where to Short Ethereum (ETH)

Traders who are looking to short Ethereum can do so by using a variety of methods, strategies, and crypto platforms.

One easy method is through crypto margin trading exchanges, which allow traders to speculate on the negative price movements of Ethereum through short-selling without actually owning the underlying asset.

Other methods include:

• Futures contracts
• Options
• CFDs

Executing the perfect Ethereum short trade is a different story and it can be tricky to get it right the first time.

It is up to each individual trader to assess the market situation and make the decision if speculating on falling prices is the best idea.

Can you short-sell Ethereum?

Yes, you can short Ethereum, but you will need to find an exchange that offers margin trading.

Margin trading allows you to trade with leverage, meaning you need to put down collateral and borrow funds from the exchange to trade with. Leverage boosts your profits but also comes with more risk of losing money since our buying power is increased.

Once you have found an exchange that offers margin trading, you need to open a margin account, which is usually offered by most derivatives exchanges.

If the price of Ethereum falls after you place your short order and you close out your position, meaning that you buy it back, at a lower price than where you opened it, which in turn will generate a profit.

Short Ethereum on Bitmex

Bitmex is a derivatives cryptocurrency platform that offers short-sell and leverage. They also offer short selling in 8 coins and this includes leverage as well.

What Bitmex is very popular for is the fact that they offer a very high level of margin when you short cryptocurrencies.

Usually, a crypto exchange would offer around 3x or up to 10x leverage.

But Bitmex offers from 20x up to 100x leverage on Cryptocurrencies when you are shorting.

You will find the ETH contract at the top of the interface.

How to short Ethereum on Bitmex

I’m going to make things very simple with this explanation.

Before you follow the guide make sure that you have deposited your cryptocurrency on Bitmex.

Shorting Ethereum on Bitmex is very straight forward and I think this is one of the best ways to do it.

Step by step explanation on how to short-sell Ethereum on Bitmex

1. Visit the Exchange!
2. At the top of the trading page, click Ethereum.
3. Choose position size.
4. Click Sell / Short.

Short ETH on Binance

Binance is another cryptocurrency exchange that offers margin trading with Ethereum.

Binance doesn’t offer as much leverage as Bitmex but you are still able to short-sell on the platform.

What’s a little bit better with Binance is the fact that you have two different interfaces.

Depending on your level of experience you can choose between the Classic interface and the Advanced interface.

If you are new to cryptocurrency investing, I would recommend that you start with the Classic interface.

Binance is another great way to short-sell ETH and once you learn how to navigate on the platform it will be very straightforward.

Here is a quick look at the classic interface.

I’ve highlighted the top right corner of the interface.

This is the market selection box.

All cryptocurrencies with the 5x symbol next to them are available to short-sell.

So, when you learn how shorting is done, you can try other coins as well.

How to short ETH on Binance

Before you short-sell on Binance you need to activate your margin wallet.

It’s super easy and will only take a moment.

Click the Wallet button in the top right corner and then click Margin Wallet.

Once you are inside the Margin Wallet, click Open Margin Wallet.

That’s it.

When you have done this you can transfer your ETH from your spot wallet but clicking on Transfer.

Ok, let us take a look at how to actually short-sell on Binance.

Step by step explanation on how to short-sell Ethereum on Binance

1. Visit the Exchange!
2. On the first page in the top left corner, hover over the Spot button.
3. Click Classic.
4. Select the Ethereum trading pair.
5. In the order selection box, choose Borrow mode.
6. Choose the amount you want to trade.
7. Click margin sell.

Short Ethereum on ByBit

For a lot of traders, ByBit is relatively unknown.

That’s about to change as more and more people find out about this awesome platform.

ByBit also offers up to 50x leverage while shorting ETH.

The charts are from Tradingview and they are incredibly smooth to use.

All the possible indicators are available.

You have the option to trade from the order book if you are an order flow trader.

It’s possible to change leverage in the top right corner of the interface.

Under this bar, you have the order selection and this is where you will do all of your transactions.

How to short-sell Ethereum on ByBit

The ByBit interface is very easy to use and I think you will like it a lot.

The only thing you need to do before you start is to transfer your ETH to the platform.

In the top right corner of the first page, you will find your assets under your account name.

Go ahead and deposit your funds and get ready.

Step by step explanation on how to short-sell Ethereum on ByBit

1. Visit the exchange!
2. On the first page in the top left corner, hover over the Trade button.
3. Click Inverse Perpetual.
4. In the top right corner of the trading interface, select the position size.
5. Click Sell / Short.

Short ETH on KuCoin

KuCoin is a centralized cryptocurrency exchange with over 250 coins available to trade.

They offer very generous leverage trading when shorting Ethereum.

The way to margin trade on KuCoin is on the future’s platform.

There are two different interfaces on this platform, the Lite, and the Pro.

Lite is for beginner crypto traders and Pro is for more advanced and experienced traders.

I’ll show you a snapshot of both.

Let’s start with the Lite interface.

It’s perfect for beginner cryptocurrency traders.

To the right, you have the Long and Short order selection.

These orders are market orders and they will immediately buy or sell the best offer in the order book.

You can also change the leverage on KuCoin as you are trading which is kind of cool.

There is also a ranking list in the middle.

If you make enough money shorting you might end up on this list.

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The Pro interface is a little bit more advanced and it looks like this.

If you are not used to charts and all the functionalities this interface has you might get a little bit intimidated.

Trust me, it’s not that difficult.

To the left, you have the order selection + the order book.

These two have been placed next to each other for a good reason.

It makes it easier for crypto day traders to trade with order flow from the order book.

The chart is from Tradingview and it comes with all the functionalities you can ask for.

Indicators, drawing tools, and every time frame you need.

I would suggest that you start with the Lite version if you are a beginner.

Now that you have seen the charting package, let’s have a look at how you actually trade on KuCoin.

How to short ETH on KuCoin

Before you start trading futures on KuCoin you need to deposit funds into your Futures wallet.

You will find your assets in the top right corner under Assets.

Hover over the Assets button and click Futures Account.

After you have deposited your funds you are off to the futures trading platform.

You will find this on the first page in the top left corner under the Futures tab.

Now that you know where to find the platform let’s go through the steps on how to start trading.

And make sure you have deposited funds in your Futures Account before you start.

Step by step explanation on how to short-sell Ethereum on KuCoin

1. Visit the exchange!
2. On the first page in the top left corner, hover over the Futures tab.
3. Choose Lite or Pro interface.
4. Inside the platform, choose the Ethereum pair.
5. Select position size and click Short.

Short Ethereum on Prime XBT

Prime XBT is another custodial cryptocurrency exchange that offers high leverage trading on all coins on the platform.

Prime XBT has a very nice interface.

You can even trade four coins at the same time if you are very good at multitasking.

Something else that’s very special is the fee.

Prime XBT has one of the lowest trading fees out of all crypto exchanges I am familiar with.

The standard fee on Prime XBT is 0.05%.

That’s 50% lower than Binance and 10 times lower than Coinbase.

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I told you that the interface was nice so let’s take a look.

There is one option and it looks like this.

It has all the different indicators and drawing tools you might need.

You can use a Candle, Bar, or Line chart, whichever you prefer.

The time frames go all the way from 1 month to 1 minute so it’s suited for both long-term position traders and crypto scalpers.

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Here is a snapshot of the four-chart mode I was talking about.

I’ve highlighted the Charts tab in the top left corner.

Here you can switch back to the normal chart if you want.

Another special feature of this interface is the “one-click trading” option.

You can either trade with Regular mode or One-click trading mode.

The difference is the speed.

One-click trading is faster and will execute orders directly from the order book.

You can switch between the different modes here.

Now let’s take a look at how to trade with margin on Prime XBT.

How to short Ethereum on Prime XBT

The only thing you need to do before you start on Prime XBT is to deposit funds into your account.

You can either use a Credit Card or Bitcoin.

I personally don’t mind transferring Bitcoin to the platform.

It’s just like a normal blockchain transaction and it takes between 5-30 minutes.

If you are in a hurry to get started, the Credit Card option will be faster.

Let’s go through the step on how to take your first trade on Prime XBT.

Step by step explanation on how to short-sell Ethereum on Prime XBT

1. Visit the exchange!
2. On the first page, click the Trade button in the top left corner.
3. Inside the trading interface, choose the Ethereum trading pair.
4. Choose your position size in the order selection window.
5. Click Sell.

Conclusion

The Exchange guide has shown you where and how to short-sell Ethereum.

These are my personal favorite platforms that offer short-selling for cryptocurrencies.
All of these platforms offer very high leverage for cryptocurrencies.

I would suggest that you start slow with low leverage before you get the hang of it.

There is a step-by-step explanation on how to short-sell ETH for each exchange.
Check it out if you are unsure of how to start.

Read through the whole review before you pick your winner.
If you are in a hurry to get started, check the exchange comparison table at the top.