Answer Box: Ethereum long positions expanded by over 3 percentage points across both USDT and coin margins as of 9:15 a.m. on the 16th, while XRP and Solana saw notable increases in the number of long-holding accounts, according to Coinglass data.
Ethereum Leads Position Shift
Ethereum recorded the most significant change in long position weighting among major cryptocurrencies. In USDT-margined contracts, Ethereum longs reached 57.51%, up 3.27 percentage points, while coin-margined longs stood at 57.55%, a 3.18 percentage point increase. Solana also saw modest gains, with USDT-margined longs at 62.20% (+1.51pp) and coin-margined longs at 76.68% (+1.13pp). Bitcoin, XRP, and Dogecoin showed minimal movement, with changes under 1 percentage point on both margin types.
Account-Level Trends Favor XRP and Solana
When measured by the proportion of accounts holding long positions, XRP and Solana stood out in the USDT margin market. XRP accounts with longs rose to 77.11% (+2.40pp), and Solana to 73.69% (+2.29pp). Dogecoin followed with 77.83% (+1.69pp). Bitcoin and Ethereum saw smaller increases, at 57.24% (+1.09pp) and 57.16% (+1.09pp), respectively. In the coin margin market, changes were minimal, with the largest shift being a 0.72 percentage point decline for Bitcoin to 69.68%, while Ethereum edged down 0.67pp to 75.30%. XRP, Solana, and Dogecoin remained nearly flat.
Interpreting Trader Behavior
Coinglass defines top traders as those in the top 20% of margin balances. The USDT margin market is typically favored by institutional investors seeking stable returns and hedging, while the coin margin market attracts long-term bulls using leverage. An increase in coin-margin open interest often signals market optimism, whereas rising USDT-margin volume may indicate institutional inflows. These data points, however, require careful analysis as some traders use futures to hedge spot positions.