Ether Falls to $1,830 as ETF Outflows, Leverage Weigh
Ether lost 6.1% in 24 hours and Bitcoin 4.9%: ETF outflows, rate fears and open leveraged bets weigh on the crypto market.
Key Takeaways
- Ether (ETH) has lost just over 6% in 24 hours and trades near $1,830.
- Bitcoin (BTC) is down 4.9% at roughly $65,600.
- A stronger dollar, rate worries, fund outflows and plenty of open leveraged bets are hitting at once.
Saturday evening shows red across the board: Ether trades near $1,830, with the daily low at $1,813. That is 6.1% below the previous day's level. Bitcoin sits at about $65,600 and has shed 4.9%.
Leverage Has Not Been Cleared Out
What has not happened in the derivatives market is telling. According to BTC-ECHO, a CryptoQuant report looks at open interest, the volume of all open futures positions. It has grown on several venues over 30 days instead of shrinking. In other words, despite the slide many traders are holding on to their leveraged bets. If prices keep falling, forced closures of long positions could add to the downward pressure. Positions worth more than $1.6 billion were already liquidated within 24 hours the day before.
Rate Fears and a Strong Dollar
The macro backdrop sets the frame. US inflation came in above expectations, and the market now prices a Fed rate hike on December 9. BTC-ECHO calls it virtually a given. The US Dollar Index (DXY) climbed to its highest level in 19 months, a headwind for assets that pay no ongoing yield. The Nvidia scandal adds to the unease in tech markets, which crypto has tracked closely lately.
Weekly Tally: Ether Suffers More Than Bitcoin
Over seven days a clear gap emerges. Ether is down about 15%, Solana (SOL) 16% and Bitcoin just under 12%. According to BTC-ECHO, the total crypto market is now worth around $2.37 trillion. Ether has also lost more than 30% since early October and has stayed below the round $2,000 mark since Thursday.
Funds Are Handing Money Back
Support from buyers is thin as well. US Bitcoin ETFs logged their sixth straight day of net outflows on Thursday: $284 million. Another roughly $71 million left Ether funds. Assets in the Bitcoin products have fallen to $89.6 billion, down from over $110 billion in September. The picture is especially sluggish for Ether: of 30 trading days, only four brought inflows, for a net result of minus $2.3 billion. That suggests professional investors are currently cutting risk rather than adding it.
What momentum says
Momentum signals weakness for Ether on three of four timeframes: it reads bearish on 1 hour, 4 hours and 1 day. Only the weekly timeframe shows bullish. Short-term downward pressure dominates, while the bigger picture has not flipped yet. This is a read of the current state, not a recommendation and not investment advice. The concept is explained at /methodik/momentum.
Scenarios
If Ether keeps falling, the area below the daily low of $1,813 comes into view. That is where it would show whether selling pressure eases or further liquidations drive the decline.
If the price stabilizes and turns back above $2,000, the level lost on Thursday would be recovered. That would probably require an end to the ETF outflows and some relief in rate expectations.
For Bitcoin, the $70,000 mark serves as the yardstick: as long as the price stays below it, the pressure remains.
Figures come from BTC-ECHO and our market data as of Saturday evening. Not investment advice.