MarketsShareShare this articleCopy linkX (Twitter)LinkedInFacebookEmailDiverging trends: Ether dips below $2,000 as futures open interest reaches record high of 16 million ETH
Ether dips below $2,000 as futures open interest reaches record high of 16 million ETH amid significant selling pressure.
By Omkar Godbole|Edited by Shaurya MalwaUpdated May 28, 2026, 7:32 a.m. Published May 28, 2026, 7:19 a.m. 2 min readMake preferred on
Ether's price decline. (CoinDesk)Key Points:
- Ether has fallen below the $2,000 mark for the first time since March, experiencing nearly an 8% decline over the past week.
- Despite the drop in prices, open interest in ether futures has surged to a record high, indicating aggressive leveraged selling and a bearish market outlook.
- Investor sentiment regarding ether has turned negative, with U.S. spot ETFs showing net outflows, notable exits from the Ethereum Foundation, and increasing skepticism about the relationship between Ethereum's ecosystem strength and the ETH token's value.
Article Overview
BTCBTC$73,069.66◢3.69%The price of Ether (ETH) is experiencing a significant sell-off amid a broader market risk aversion. However, the futures market for Ether remains active, highlighting a concerning divergence.
On Thursday morning, ETH fell below $2,000 for the first time since late March, marking a nearly 8% decline in the past week and over 5% drop within the last 24 hours, according to CoinDesk data.
Markus Thielen, founder of 10x Research, noted in an email, "More and more people are becoming disillusioned with ETH as it fails to generate revenue, and the rise in bond yields makes staking yields less appealing. The only remaining buyer has been Bitmine, but they have signaled a slowdown in their purchases."
Interestingly, ether's sell-off coincides with a third consecutive day of rising open interest in ether futures, which has reached a new high of 16.39 million tokens, according to Coinglass data. This translates to an approximate notional open interest of $32.5 billion, indicating a substantial influx of capital into futures, a leveraged instrument that magnifies both potential gains and losses.
However, the record open interest, when combined with a negative seven-day OI-adjusted cumulative volume delta (CVD) and declining spot prices, indicates aggressive net selling. A negative CVD suggests that the price movements are being influenced by traders making bearish bets through market orders rather than through passive limit orders.
This bearish sentiment extends beyond futures markets. U.S. spot Ether ETFs have recorded cumulative outflows of $401 million this month, reversing the previous month's inflow of $354 million, as per SoSoValue data.
Investor sentiment surrounding Ether has also worsened, as the Ethereum Foundation has seen notable departures, including key contributors Carl Beekhuizen and Julian Ma.
Thielen remarked, "The high-profile exits from the Ethereum Foundation indicate that the original vision may no longer resonate with these individuals."
This trend is mirrored by prominent voices and long-term holders within the community. David Hoffman, co-founder of Bankless, recently disclosed that he sold his ETH holdings, stating that he believes the long-held premise of "ETH is money" has largely been realized.
Some analysts suggest that the market is increasingly questioning the extent to which Ethereum's dominance in DeFi, tokenization, and other sectors translates into value for its native token, ETH.
According to Web3 research and consultancy firm House of Chimera, "Ethereum's challenge is not that the chain has lost significance. Rather, the market is scrutinizing how the strength of Ethereum's infrastructure benefits ETH." They also noted that while Ethereum continues to outpace its competitors in smart contract blockchain development activities, sentiment and prices can decline more rapidly than developer engagement.
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