Ethereum Open Interest nears $20B as price soars – Is a bull run brewing?

• Ethereum Open Interest hits ATH, but rising leverage heightens risk of sharp liquidations.
• $123B in ETH sits near cost basis, exposing the market to sentiment-driven reversals.

Is Ethereum [ETH] skating on a knife’s edge?

While Open Interest has climbed to record highs — a sign of heightened speculative appetite — a staggering $123 billion of ETH’s market cap now hovers just 0-20% above cost basis.

With a dense cluster of holders positioned between $2.3K and $2.5K, even minor price corrections could tilt large portions of the network into the red.

This raises the stakes for Ethereum’s next move, as volatility risk intensifies in an already fragile market.

Ethereum Open Interest hits an ATH

Ethereum Futures are experiencing a surge in speculative activity, with Open Interest climbing to an all-time high of $35.69 billion, per CoinGlass data.

Source: CoinGlass

This marks aggressive positioning by traders anticipating continued upside. The sharp rise in Open Interest throughout May has outpaced ETH’s price movement — suggesting growing leverage in the system.

While this bullish sentiment can fuel rapid gains, it also increases Ethereum’s exposure to volatility.

A sudden price move in either direction could trigger cascading liquidations, making the current setup both promising and precarious.

Tenuous gains

According to Glassnode, $123 billion of ETH’s market cap is concentrated in the 0-20% profit band, with most of it acquired between $2,300 and $2,500.

This sharp increase in at-risk capital says that even a modest pullback could push a significant portion of holders into unrealized losses.

Source: Glassnode

The chart shows a swelling of this cohort in May, despite the broader rally.

In effect, Ethereum’s climb has placed a vast amount of capital on a narrow ledge — exposing the market to swift sentiment reversals if price momentum breaks.

Short-term edge

ETH continued to hover near $2,670 at press time, but technical indicators suggest caution. The RSI was at 68.93, approaching overbought territory, hinting at possible exhaustion in upward momentum.

Meanwhile, the MACD line remained above the signal line, reinforcing bullish sentiment — but the histogram was flattening, so it could be fading momentum.

Source: TradingView

Price action shows consolidation after a sharp mid-May rally, suggesting a breakout or correction could be imminent.

If bulls fail to push ETH above $2,700 convincingly, a retracement toward the $2,500-$2,550 support zone may follow, especially given the clustering of cost-basis risk in that range.