Price is back near $2.5K. Open interest is still 30% below where it sat the last time ETH traded here. That gap is the whole story.

Price/OI divergence worth flagging on ETH right now. Open interest sits at $13.9B, down roughly 30% from the ~$20B peak set in mid-2025, while spot price has already recovered to $2.5K, close to where it traded during that same OI peak.

The historical pattern on this chart is consistent: every prior OI blow-off, 2021, 2024, 2025, preceded a drawdown once positioning ran ahead of price. Right now the relationship is inverted from that setup, price leading, OI lagging, which generally reads as reduced leverage risk relative to spot strength.

Watch whether OI accelerates to catch up with price from here, that convergence point is historically where this chart's prior tops formed.

Written by R3N