Despite Ether’s price retreating by 44 percent in 2026, traders are showing renewed interest in opening leveraged long positions in the futures market. Open interest in Ether futures on Binance has soared to an all time high of 3.7 million ETH, accounting for more than 44 percent of all Ether futures held on the platform. This shift is sparking intense debate about what may lie ahead for both Ether and broader crypto markets.
Shifts emerge in Binance’s futures data
Crypto analyst Darkfost pointed out that activity in Ether futures is gaining momentum on Binance, in spite of growing macroeconomic uncertainty and heightened geopolitical tensions. According to the analyst, Binance has set a new benchmark with nearly 3.7 million ETH held in open futures contracts.
As Darkfost explained, “Ether futures activity is seeing a recovery despite increased market uncertainties, with Binance’s open interest climbing to a new record at 3.7 million ETH.”
During the same period, Binance’s weekly average buyer seller ratio climbed from 0.95 to 1.0, ending months of trading dominated by sellers. This near parity suggests that after a prolonged stretch of selling pressure, the market is becoming more balanced between buyers and sellers.
Mini glossary: Open interest refers to the total amount of outstanding futures contracts that have not yet been settled. The buyer seller ratio is a short term indicator that shows whether buy or sell orders are dominating in the market.
Buyers gain strength across exchanges
This trend is not limited to Binance. Across all major exchanges, the buyer seller ratio has climbed from 0.94 to 1.0 over the past two weeks, highlighting that buyers are now more prominent than sellers in terms of market orders.
At the same time, speculative activity appears to be outpacing spot demand. Binance’s ratio of perpetual futures to spot trading volume has climbed close to 0.90, nearing historic highs. The corresponding 30 day Z score for this indicator stands at 2.53, underscoring the scale of this imbalance.
While perpetual futures volume has reached approximately 5.57 million ETH, spot volumes have lagged behind at around 290,000 ETH. This gap highlights how leveraged positions are expanding at a much faster pace than activity in the underlying spot market.
Diverging dynamics among top exchanges
Market analyst Amr Taha noted a pronounced divergence in open positions among leading exchanges. In the past 30 days, Binance has added 616,400 ETH in open interest, marking the strongest increase since 2019. Meanwhile, Gate.io saw its open positions decline by 631,700 ETH in the same period. As one of the world’s major crypto trading venues, Gate.io’s decline contrasts sharply with Binance’s surge.
Critical liquidation zones in focus
Liquidation heatmaps point to a cluster of roughly 8 billion dollars in short positions between 2,200 and 2,400 dollars. Should Ether’s price gain upward momentum, this range could become a key liquidity zone to watch.
In the short term, high leverage is evident on both sides of the market. There is a cumulative liquidation risk of about 1.72 billion dollars in long positions below the 1,500 dollar level, while short position liquidation risk near 1.90 billion dollars exists around 1,800 dollars.
The closeness of these two risk pools suggests that both bullish and bearish traders are under similar pressure. This market structure suggests that, beyond simply tracking price direction, participants are closely monitoring which liquidation zone might be triggered first as Ether’s price makes its next decisive move.
