Ether Traders Increase Leveraged Longs Despite 44% Price Drop in 2026

Ether (ETH) traders are increasing their leveraged long positions despite ETH price being down 44% in 2026. Ether's futures open interest at Binance has climbed to a record 3.7 million ETH, with the exchange accounting for more than 44% of total Ether futures.

Crypto analyst Darkfost noted that Ether futures activity has improved despite rising uncertainty driven by geopolitical tensions and weakening economic conditions.

The analyst noted that Binance now holds nearly 3.7 million ETH in open futures contracts, marking a new all-time high for Ether open interest on the exchange.

ETH open interest value on Binance. Source: CryptoQuant

Improving risk appetite for long positions also emerged as Binance’s weekly average taker buy-sell ratio increased to 1.0 from 0.95 after months of seller-led activity. A reading near 1.0 points to a more balanced market after a prolonged period of selling pressure.

The trend extends beyond Binance. Across all exchanges, the taker buy-sell ratio has risen to 1 from 0.94 over the past two weeks, indicating that buyers are becoming more active in market orders than sellers.

Ether: taker buy sell ratio across all exchanges. Source: CryptoQuant

At the same time, the speculative activity is accelerating faster than spot demand. Binance's perp-spot volume imbalance indicator climbed to roughly 0.90, close to a record high, while its 30-day Z-score reached 2.53.

Perpetual futures volume stood near 5.57 million ETH compared with about 290,000 ETH in spot trading. This indicates leveraged participation is expanding far more quickly than activity in the underlying market.

ETH Perp-Spot volume imbalance indicator. Source: CryptoQuant

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ETH liquidation risk remains on both sides

Market analyst Amr Taha highlighted a growing split in exchange positioning. Binance recorded a 30-day open interest increase of 616,400 ETH, its strongest reading since 2019. During the same period, Gate.io posted a decline of 631,700 ETH.

Multi-exchange open interest 30-day change. Source: CryptoQuant

Liquidation heatmaps show nearly $8 billion in short positions clustered between $2,200 and $2,400. Those levels stand out as key liquidity zones if ETH price begins to push higher.

However, near-term positioning remains heavily leveraged on both sides. Roughly $1.72 billion in cumulative long liquidations sits below the current price of $1,500, while nearly $1.90 billion in short liquidation exposure is concentrated near $1,800.

The narrow gap between those pools highlights a market where both bullish and bearish positions carry significant liquidation risk.

ETH liquidation map. Source: CoinGlass