Ethereum Open Interest Falls $2B as Derivative Trading Stalls

Gate News message, April 21 — Ethereum’s derivatives market saw a significant deleveraging event over the past week, with traders closing over $2 billion in futures positions. ETH open interest fell to $12.4 billion, according to Coinglass, marking the second major capitulation event in 30 days. ETH price held above $2,300 despite the reduced derivative activity.

Negative funding rates signal bearish sentiment, with 34% of open interest held in short positions. The largest negative funding rate appeared on a major CEX, reaching 0.0058%. The Ethereum Fear and Greed Index stood at 53, indicating neutral sentiment as traders await better entry points. On-chain data shows two leading whales on Hyperliquid holding matching short and long positions for 20,000 ETH; the short position carries over $8 million in unrealized losses while the long position shows over $376,000 in unrealized gains.

The deleveraging concentrated on major exchanges, with Gate’s ETH perpetual open interest declining sharply from $4.67 billion on April 14 to $2.88 billion. The decline coincided partly with the Kelp DAO hack, with up to $210 million in ETH potentially facing liquidation. Whales have closed positions to lock in profits after ETH consolidated above $2,300, while historical data shows spot accumulation continues with over 2.43 thousand wallets actively buying ETH on spot markets.

Despite derivative outflows, long-term bullish signals persist. Over 2.7 million ETH await deposit to the Beacon Chain for staking, and whales holding over 100,000 ETH remain in profit. Structural accumulator wallets show the highest activity, suggesting confidence in ETH’s utility as a DeFi collateral and staking asset.