Ether fell below the $2,000 threshold on Thursday as selling momentum intensified, even as activity in the futures market surged to record levels — a divergence that points to mounting bearish bets.
The token has been under pressure amid a broader risk-off backdrop, declining nearly 8% over the past week and more than 5% in the last 24 hours. The move marks ETH’s first drop below $2,000 since late March, according to CoinDesk data.
Investor sentiment appears to be deteriorating. Markus Thielen, founder of 10x Research, said demand for ether has been weakening, citing the lack of meaningful revenue generation and relatively unattractive staking yields in a higher interest-rate environment. He also noted that Bitmine — one of the few consistent buyers — is expected to slow its purchases.
At the same time, derivatives markets are showing increased activity. Open interest in ether futures has risen for three consecutive days, reaching a record 16.39 million ETH, or roughly $32.5 billion in notional value, according to Coinglass. The jump highlights growing participation in leveraged trading.
However, the rise in open interest alongside falling prices and a negative seven-day open interest-adjusted cumulative volume delta (CVD) suggests that the influx of capital is largely driven by aggressive short positioning. A negative CVD indicates traders are executing bearish trades through market orders rather than passively placing bids.
The bearish tone is also reflected in institutional flows. U.S.-listed spot Ether ETFs have recorded $401 million in net outflows this month, fully reversing April’s $354 million in inflows, based on SoSoValue data.
Sentiment has been further weighed down by developments within the Ethereum ecosystem. The Ethereum Foundation has seen several high-profile departures, including contributors Carl Beekhuizen and Julian Ma, raising questions about the project’s direction.
Thielen said these exits could signal that Ethereum’s original vision is no longer resonating with some early supporters.
The shift in outlook extends beyond internal dynamics. David Hoffman, co-founder of Bankless, recently disclosed that he has exited his ETH position, arguing that the long-standing narrative of “ETH as money” may have largely played out.
Meanwhile, analysts are increasingly questioning how effectively Ethereum’s dominance in areas such as decentralized finance and tokenization translates into sustained value for its native token.
“Ethereum remains structurally important, but the market is reassessing how that strength accrues to ETH,” Web3 research firm House of Chimera said in a post on X.
Although Ethereum continues to lead in developer activity, with millions of GitHub contributions, analysts note that strong ecosystem fundamentals do not always translate into positive price performance or investor sentiment in the short term.
