Summary
⚈ ETH price climbed 76%, aligning with increased speculative activity and open positions.
⚈ Technical analysis suggests a breakout toward $2,739 if bullish momentum continues.
Ethereum’s (ETH) open interest, a measure of open derivatives positions at any given time, reached a 3-month high on May 13, signalling strong confidence that the present rally will continue.
The total amount of derivatives positions open on the day was 17.05 billion, the highest it has been since February 2, and worth a total of roughly $32.68 billion, per data Finbold retrieved from cryptocurrency analysis platform CryptoQuant. The elevated level of ETH open interest is a clear sign of increased speculative trading — and since Ethereum prices have been surging as of late, traders seem to be betting that the rally will continue.
While speculative trading would still have to ramp up significantly to surpass a year-to-date (YTD) high of 21.3 billion reached in early January, the recent high represents an 80.47% surge from the YTD low of just 9.49 billion, seen on April 10.
The Ethereum open interest surge is just the latest in a long line of bullish ETH signals
Over the same period, ETH price jumped 76.13% from $1,521 on April 10 to $2,679, indicating strong alignment between open interest and bullish price action.
Despite the latest move to the upside, ETH, which is trading at $2,602 as of press time on May 14, remains down 22% on a year-to-date basis.
However, recent developments suggest that ETH’s longstanding slump could have come to an end. In spite of significant inflows, the rally has yet to produce significant bearish pressure.
Finally, on the technical analysis side of things, veteran trader Peter Brandt recently highlighted a congestion pattern that he believes could herald a ‘moon shot’ for ETH. Ethereum’s next zone of resistance lies at approximately $2,739 — and if market-wide dynamics remain favorable, a test of that level could occur in the very near term.
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