The options market is 62% betting on ETH going up, but leveraged longs are being liquidated—the data from ETH derivatives is sending mixed signals.
First, a look at the latest figures:
1. Futures open interest: $30.59 billion across the market (12.63 million ETH), with Binance alone accounting for $8.73 billion, or 28.55%.
2. Options open interest: 1.59 million call options vs. 984,000 put options. Calls make up 61.75%, so bulls are in the majority in the options market.
3. Liquidations: Over 24 hours on Friday, 3,222 longs were liquidated vs. 2,181 shorts. The 12-hour figures are even more lopsided: 2,651 longs vs. 876 shorts.
4. Funding rates are still positive (0.0053), meaning leveraged longs are still paying shorts. They’re not giving up.
How to read this: It’s a classic case of “bullish talk, but deleveraging in practice.” The dominance of call options suggests that longer-term capital isn’t pessimistic, but leveraged longs in the futures market are being forced to deleverage—a tense phase before the market picks a direction. For ETH in the short term, this setup means volatility could intensify: traders chasing the rally with leveraged longs could easily become fuel for the next round of liquidations.
Two possible scenarios:
A. ETH holds the $2,350–$2,400 range and liquidations taper off → deleveraging is complete, giving the bullish options sentiment a chance to play out.
B. ETH falls below $2,350 → cascading liquidations, with the options max pain level near $2,200 acting like a magnet for the price.
Watch whether liquidations and funding rates both start to ease. Leveraged traders should avoid fighting the market over the next few days.
Do you think this is healthy deleveraging, or a precursor to a bigger drop?
Data as of: 2026-10-17 (UTC)
Sources: Bitcoin.com (10-17); EconoTimes (10-17, options data cross-checked)
For informational purposes only; not investment advice.
$ETH
#Ethereum
First, a look at the latest figures:
1. Futures open interest: $30.59 billion across the market (12.63 million ETH), with Binance alone accounting for $8.73 billion, or 28.55%.
2. Options open interest: 1.59 million call options vs. 984,000 put options. Calls make up 61.75%, so bulls are in the majority in the options market.
3. Liquidations: Over 24 hours on Friday, 3,222 longs were liquidated vs. 2,181 shorts. The 12-hour figures are even more lopsided: 2,651 longs vs. 876 shorts.
4. Funding rates are still positive (0.0053), meaning leveraged longs are still paying shorts. They’re not giving up.
How to read this: It’s a classic case of “bullish talk, but deleveraging in practice.” The dominance of call options suggests that longer-term capital isn’t pessimistic, but leveraged longs in the futures market are being forced to deleverage—a tense phase before the market picks a direction. For ETH in the short term, this setup means volatility could intensify: traders chasing the rally with leveraged longs could easily become fuel for the next round of liquidations.
Two possible scenarios:
A. ETH holds the $2,350–$2,400 range and liquidations taper off → deleveraging is complete, giving the bullish options sentiment a chance to play out.
B. ETH falls below $2,350 → cascading liquidations, with the options max pain level near $2,200 acting like a magnet for the price.
Watch whether liquidations and funding rates both start to ease. Leveraged traders should avoid fighting the market over the next few days.
Do you think this is healthy deleveraging, or a precursor to a bigger drop?
Data as of: 2026-10-17 (UTC)
Sources: Bitcoin.com (10-17); EconoTimes (10-17, options data cross-checked)
For informational purposes only; not investment advice.
$ETH
#Ethereum