$8.4B and Unbroken: Why Ethereum (ETH) Open Interest Isn’t Cracking Under Price Pressure?

After a week of choppy price action, Ethereum (ETH) declined by another 1.4% today as it struggles to hold fort near $4,300. The derivatives market, however, is showing resilience despite recent price ￰0￱ its latest post, CryptoQuant noted that Binance’s ETH open interest (OI) has continued to hold above $8.4 billion, even after the asset dipped below $4,400 this ￰1￱ August 30, open interest was recorded at the $8.4 billion threshold, and while price action has since turned lower, OI has not broken decisively below that ￰2￱ Gearing Up for a Counterattack? Typically, sharp price declines are accompanied by a proportional drop in OI, which hints at liquidations or broader risk-off ￰3￱ current pattern means that traders are maintaining positions, and are possibly anticipating a rebound or showing a lack of conviction in further ￰4￱ also shows that the momentum of OI contraction has ￰5￱ 24-hour percentage change in Binance’s ETH OI now stands at -3.4%, compared with a sharper -6.25% drop observed just two days ￰6￱ moderation indicates that the aggressive deleveraging phase may be losing steam, as the derivatives market appears less inclined to amplify the ￰7￱ the same time, Binance Net Taker Volume has consistently remained negative and has ranged between -1.08 billion and -1.11 billion, which reflects a market environment still dominated by aggressive ￰8￱ the stability in open interest implies that buyers are absorbing at least part of this pressure rather than fully ￰9￱ market data further added bullish context as CryptoQuant found that daily Ethereum withdrawals from exchanges such as Binance and Kraken often surpassed 120,000 ￰10￱ steady outflows reduce exchange reserves and tighten liquidity, thereby limiting the depth of future sell-side ￰11￱ this trend reflects accumulation or custodial reallocation, it introduces a structural bullish undertone to an otherwise cautious derivatives ￰12￱ essentially suggests that the market is still balancing between bearish short-term flows and longer-term ￰13￱ Bear Trap Ethereum’s latest pullback has some traders bracing for deeper losses, but technical analysts warn against reading too much into September’s ￰14￱ current price structure appears to be a bearish head-and-shoulders ￰15￱ to crypto analyst Johnny Woo, this setup could prove ￰16￱ described this trajectory as one of the market’s “biggest bear traps” in the ￰17￱ the pattern breaks down, ETH risks further declines; however, if it fails to materialize, sidelined traders could be forced to re-enter at higher ￰18￱ flagged the $3,800-$4,100 range as a critical support ￰19￱ above it may validate bullish sentiment heading into October, dubbed “Uptober” by traders for its history of reversals and ￰20￱ September looks shaky, analysts argue Ethereum’s chart may be primed to catch the market off guard.