Ethereum falls 6%, leaving $1.35 billion in long bets at risk of liquidation

Ethereum’s slide toward $2,500 has put about $1.35 billion of leveraged long positions at increasing risk of liquidation.

CoinMarketCap data showed roughly $1.35 billion of ETH long exposure sat at liquidation levels below the prevailing price, compared with about $999.78 million of shorts vulnerable above it. The figures represent positions exposed across a range of lower price levels rather than a single liquidation threshold.

The nearest pressure point is already approaching. About $112.83 million of ETH longs on Hyperliquid were positioned to liquidate around $2,511, CoinMarketCap said. When ETH traded at $2,605.65, the distance to that level had narrowed to about 3.6%, compared with a 7.4% cushion a day earlier.

The risk comes after ETH fell 5.9% over the last 24 hours to $$2,570 as of press time, according to CryptoSlate's data, extending a break from the $2,700 area that had contained the token despite several days of institutional selling.

ETH longs take the first hit as $2,500 comes into focus

Available data shows that the latest price break triggered a sharp wave of forced closures before Ethereum has even reached the nearest major liquidation cluster.

CoinGlass data showed $233.36 million of ETH positions were liquidated over the last 24 hours, with long traders accounting for $221.87 million, or about 95% of the total.

Of this, roughly $226.22 million was wiped out over 12 hours, including $216.11 million of long exposure.

Notably, Ethereum also accounted for the largest single liquidation across the broader crypto market, with a $26.64 million ETHUSDC position on Binance forced closed.

The scale of those losses makes the remaining liquidation map more consequential. Liquidation maps do not mean every identified position will automatically be closed. They instead show where leveraged trades become increasingly vulnerable as prices move through successive thresholds.

A continued decline toward $2,500 would therefore test whether the first wave of liquidations has removed enough leverage to stabilize the market or whether another layer of long positions remains vulnerable below it.

However, current market positioning suggests that risk has not disappeared.

CoinGlass showed a 3.32 long-to-short ratio among Binance ETH/USDT accounts, while the comparable ratio on OKX stood at 2.13. Binance’s largest traders were also skewed toward longs, with a 2.34 ratio by accounts and 1.62 when measured by positions.

Those metrics do not measure the dollar value committed to either side, but they show bullish positioning remains widespread even after more than $220 million of long bets were erased.

Funding rates, however, have turned negative.

Data from CoinGlass shows Ethereum’s open-interest-weighted funding rate stood at -0.0041%, while its volume-weighted rate was -0.0034%. Negative funding indicates stronger demand for short exposure, with short sellers paying longs to maintain perpetual futures positions.

That shift raises the prospect of increasingly crowded positioning on both sides if traders continue buying the decline while others add shorts after the breakdown.

ETF withdrawals remove another source of support

Ethereum’s weakening price is also coinciding with a sharp deterioration in demand for US spot Ether ETFs.

The funds recorded about $202 million of net outflows on Oct. 6, their largest single-day withdrawal since Sept. 16. The move extended the current outflow streak to six sessions and brought total withdrawals during the run to roughly $408 million.

The latest withdrawal also marked a significant acceleration. Investors had pulled almost $206 million from the funds across the previous five sessions combined, meaning Oct. 6 alone nearly matched that amount.

Ether had initially absorbed those withdrawals while holding near $2,700, suggesting ETF selling was not immediately translating into weaker prices. That resilience has now broken, with another large outflow arriving as ETH slipped toward $2,500.

Despite the recent retreat, the funds have accumulated $13.55 billion in cumulative net inflows since their launch, according to SoSoValue, leaving the latest withdrawals as a reversal within a much larger pool of institutional capital already committed to Ethereum.

Nonetheless, the outflows put greater focus on whether institutional investors begin treating the lower price as an entry point or continue reducing exposure.

Continued redemptions would remove a source of spot demand at a time when Ethereum is already struggling to regain its previous range. A reversal in flows, however, could signal that investors see the latest decline as an opportunity rather than the start of a deeper pullback.