Ethereum has started showing movement signals after breaking through the $3000 level. Open interest is rising, traders are becoming more active in futures, while spot trading remains sluggish.
Futures market activity for ETH is gradually recovering. This indicates that participants once again see potential direction. ETH is trading at $3006, forming a slightly higher support level. Open interest has also increased, approaching $17 billion.
Open interest in ETH is approaching $17 billion amid rising futures activity. Source: CryptoQuant
According to CryptoQuant, the futures-to-spot ratio for ether is growing faster than for bitcoin and Solana. While all leading assets are showing moderate volumes in derivatives markets, ETH market participants have already started betting on riskier scenarios.
So far, the recovery of open interest and futures activity looks cautious. Ether still hasn’t returned to the levels seen before the large-scale liquidations on October 10–11. Nevertheless, the market still expects the uptrend to continue.
ETH traders change sentiment, focus shifts toward speculation
The ratio of futures to spot trading volumes for ETH indicates a liquidity flow. In recent days, this indicator has increased, signaling a return of interest in speculative trading.
Traders are increasingly opening directional positions instead of just ‘catching the bottom’ and accumulating ether. The level of leverage usage is still lower than at the beginning of October, but already shows steady recovery.
Risk appetite among ETH market participants is returning faster than for other assets. Bitcoin and Solana are still trading in a zone of lower futures-to-spot ratio, while Ethereum is moving ahead. Traders are increasingly betting on price movement.
The growth of leveraged directional positions has also pushed up the ether fear and greed index. In just a few days, from November 21 to 27, it rose from a local minimum of 21 to 55 points.
At the same time, it is still impossible to say for sure whether the market will hold its chosen direction. Increased open interest may only attempt to lock in a rebound from local lows. It is difficult to judge now whether ether will form a confident support level for long positions.
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Bets on growth start from around $2900, while short positions are opened up to $3100. Increased leverage may also indicate possible short-term liquidations of long positions, even a minor price correction is enough.
The shift to derivatives-oriented trading also suggests that large players do not expect sharp moves or panic selling. This makes it possible to use even minor price fluctuations and increase profits through leverage. However, risks also increase, because during a strong drawdown the market can quickly enter a liquidation phase, and even experienced traders may face losses or sharp drawdowns in positions.
Fusaka hard fork is coming soon
Interest in ether is increasing amid the upcoming Fusaka update. Despite the fact that the hard fork has long been anticipated and is already partially priced in, activity and attention to the network have noticeably increased since November 21, right at the time when the price began to recover.
Previously, Ethereum already received a boost from the Pectra update, which triggered an upward rally. Now traders expect that Fusaka will also push the market and increase the desire to open directional positions.
Some updates have already been implemented: the gas limit per block has been increased, and basic transactions cost less than $0.01, which is a record low for fees. At the same time, activity on the Ethereum network has approached historic highs. This is primarily due to ETH transactions, stablecoin turnover, and decentralized swaps.
