The Ethereum (ETH) market may now be heading for a significant shift in momentum as its derivatives market continues to exhibit unprecedented growth. Particularly, while Bitcoin’s price action remains a dominant force in the market, Ethereum’s derivatives activity suggests that it could be gearing up for notable upward momentum. Related Reading: Is Ethereum Undervalued? Investors Hold Firm While Price Targets Rise New Highs In ETH Open Interest And Leverage Ratios According to a recent analysis by CryptoQuant’s EgyHash, the open interest in Ethereum has surpassed its previous all-time high, marking a 40% increase in just four months and exceeding the $13 billion threshold. The surge in open interest, which represents the total number of outstanding derivative contracts, reflects a growing engagement among traders and institutions in Ethereum’s market. Alongside this, EgyHash also mentioned that funding rates have turned moderately positive, signalling that long-position traders are currently dominant. This aligns with a sentiment favouring further price increases for ETH in the short term. The rise in open interest is not the only indicator of Ethereum’s increasing activity in derivatives markets. The CryptoQuant analyst pointed to Ethereum’s estimated leverage ratio. EgyHash disclosed that this metric which is calculated as the ratio of open interest to the exchange’s coin reserves, has also reached a new all-time high of +0.40. Commenting on what these rising metrics means for market participants, the CryptoQuant analyst wrote: While these trends underscore positive market sentiment toward ETH, it would be prudent to remain mindful of potential risks. The elevated leverage and dominance of long positions could increase the likelihood of a long squeeze if sudden price volatility occurs, potentially leading to market corrections. Ethereum Market Performance Regardless of the positive key metrics, Ethereum has continued to be one of the underperforming crypto in the market especially when compared to Bitcoin. Particularly, while Bitcoin has consistently being breaching major resistance to hit new highs, ETH still remains 36.2% decrease away from its all-time high of $4,878 registered in 2021. However, as of today, the asset seems to be gearing up for an uptrend. At the time of writing, Ethereum has surged by 0.9% in the past day with a current trading price of $3,112. Renowned analyst known as Ali on X has recently shared his outlook on the asset noting that Ethereum could outperform Bitcoin soon. The analyst backed this statement citing several key metrics and trends. Related Reading: Ethereum Price Faces Challenges: Will It Find Traction Soon? According to Ali, the altseason indicator is flashing buying opportunity and ETH’s MVRV momentum nears a key moving average suggesting significant upside potential. The analyst also mentioned the spot exchange-traded flows (ETF) Inflows and increasing whale Activity. Ali then suggested that Ethereum could test $4,000 and $6,000 levels based on an ascending parallel channel. He also highlighted a bullish theory on ETH’s potential to hit $10,000. But there is another bullish theory!#Ethereum could be mirroring the price action of the S&P500, which puts a $10,000 target on $ETH.https://t.co/ifn1zGnn9x — Ali (@ali_charts) November 19, 2024 Featured image created with DALL-E, Chart from TradingView
Ethereum (ETH) recorded a significant loss in price this week following the trading debut of Ethereum spot ETFs. According to data from CoinMarketCap, ETH has declined by 6.60% in the last seven days, falling as low as $3,100. However, amidst this price crash, CryptoQuant analyst burakkesmeci has made an important observation with a potential impact on market movement. Related Reading: Ethereum Targets Recovery: Can It Mirror Bitcoin’s Performance? Ethereum Open Interest Surges By $1.5 Billion In Three Weeks In a Quicktake post on CryptoQuant, burrakesmeci shared that the Open Interest (OI) on Ethereum has risen by a remarkable $1.5 billion in the past three weeks. For context, Open Interest refers to the total number of outstanding positions for a particular asset. Generally, an increase in Open Interest indicates a rise in market participation for any asset i.e., more traders are opening long or short positions on Ethereum. With this rise in open positions, there is likely an equal increase in the number of leverage trades. Burakkesmeci expressed that a surge in liquidations should also be expected as leveraged trades, which are open with borrowed funds, are always closed once an insufficient price margin occurs. Furthermore, This increase in leverage trading liquidations is expected to produce a high market volatility, resulting in unpredictable and rapid price movements. In regards to price action, a rise in Open Interest indicates the current market trend is gaining stronger. Therefore, despite Ethereum’s price dip in the last week, the prominent altcoin is likely to extend its 7.01% gain of the past three weeks in the coming months. At the time of writing, Ethereum presently trades at $3,278.80 with a 3.46% increase in the last 24 hours. The altcoin appears to be attempting a market recovery with a strong resistance expected at the $3,500 region. However, if the current buying pressure proves insufficient to break past this barrier, Ethereum could return to the $3,100 price mark or even slide as low as $2,900. Related Reading: Ethereum Whales Rapidly Accumulate ETH Amid Price Decline Ethereum Spot ETFs Net Outflows Reach $469 Million In another development, the newly launched Ethereum Spot ETF market has now recorded a cumulative outflow of $469.83 million in its first three days of trading. Data from Farside Investors identifies Grayscale’s ETHE with a total outflow of $1.51 billion as the major cause of this current market position. Meanwhile, BlackRock’s ETHA continues to lead the market with inflows worth $354.8 million, followed closely by Bitwise’s ETHW with $265.9 million. Like their Bitcoin counterparts, the debut of the Ethereum spot ETF has been accompanied by a significant price drop. However, it remains uncertain whether these Ethereum ETFs will eventually trigger a price surge akin to the one experienced in the Bitcoin market during the initial two months of BTC Spot ETF trading. Featured image from Investopedia, chart from Tradingview.com