Ether futures market sees surge in long positions at $1.6K levels: Can ETH spearhead crypto comeback?
Long exposure in Ether futures is expanding as traders demonstrate heightened risk tolerance, evidenced by Binance's growing open interest and increased buying pressure.
Despite a 44% decline in ETH price throughout 2026, Ether (ETH) market participants are ramping up their leveraged bullish bets. Open interest for Ether futures on Binance has surged to an unprecedented 3.7 million ETH, with the platform now representing over 44% of the entire Ether futures market.
According to crypto analyst Darkfost, activity in Ether futures has shown notable improvement even as uncertainty mounts due to geopolitical strife and deteriorating macroeconomic fundamentals.
Darkfost's analysis revealed that Binance currently maintains approximately 3.7 million ETH in outstanding futures positions, establishing a fresh record high for Ether open interest on the platform.
Growing appetite for bullish positions became evident as Binance's weekly average taker buy-sell ratio climbed to 1.0 from 0.95, ending months dominated by selling activity. A metric approaching 1.0 suggests a more equilibrated marketplace following an extended phase of downward pressure.
This pattern isn't limited to Binance alone. When examining all trading platforms, the taker buy-sell ratio has increased to 1 from 0.94 during the previous two weeks, demonstrating that purchasers are exhibiting greater aggressiveness in executing market orders compared to sellers.
Meanwhile, speculative trading is expanding at a pace that significantly outstrips spot market demand. Binance's perpetual-to-spot volume imbalance metric has climbed to approximately 0.90, nearing its historical peak, while the 30-day Z-score has reached 2.53.
Volume in perpetual futures contracts approached 5.57 million ETH in contrast to roughly 290,000 ETH being traded in spot markets. This divergence signals that leveraged market participation is growing substantially faster than transactions in the actual underlying asset.
ETH liquidation risk remains on both sides
Analyst Amr Taha drew attention to an emerging divergence in positioning across different exchanges. Binance has seen a 30-day increase in open interest totaling 616,400 ETH, representing its most robust growth since 2019. Over the identical timeframe, Gate.io experienced a reduction of 631,700 ETH.
Analysis of liquidation heatmaps reveals approximately $8 billion worth of short positions concentrated within the $2,200 to $2,400 price range. These price levels emerge as critical liquidity zones should ETH price experience upward momentum.
Nevertheless, immediate-term positioning displays substantial leverage on both the bullish and bearish sides. Approximately $1.72 billion in aggregate long liquidation exposure exists beneath the current $1,500 price level, while close to $1.90 billion in short liquidation vulnerability is clustered around $1,800.
The limited separation between these liquidation pools underscores a trading environment in which both optimistic and pessimistic positions face considerable liquidation exposure.
