Usman Salis
⬤ Ethereum's derivatives market is heating up again. Futures open interest has bounced back to where it was on October 10, showing traders are getting back in the game. Right now, ETH is sitting around $3,110 after months of choppy trading and sideways movement.
⬤ Looking at the price action, ETH took a pretty rough ride down from above $4,000 earlier this year before finding some stability. When prices were tanking, open interest dropped hard too—people were cutting leverage and basically sitting on the sidelines. But since late November, things have changed. Open interest has been creeping back up and finally hit that 5 million contract mark again, even though the price is still stuck in a range.
⬤ Here's what's interesting: prices aren't really going anywhere, but leverage is building up fast. That's usually a recipe for bigger swings when something finally breaks. More leverage in a tight range means the market gets way more sensitive to any catalyst that comes along.
⬤ This matters because Ethereum is huge in crypto derivatives. When open interest climbs like this, it means volatility could spike once ETH picks a direction. With positioning back at October highs while price stays boxed in, the market's basically loaded and ready to react to whatever comes next.
Usman Salis
