Ether (ETH), Ethereum network’s native coin, has surged 10.5 percent over the past week, exchanging hands at roughly $1,790 as of Monday. While the cryptocurrency is currently down almost 64 percent from its October 2025 all-time high of $4,946, its recent recovery in price saw its largest short liquidations since 2022.
ETH short liquidations hit 4-year high
ETH open interest has pulled back sharply from its October 2025 highs, dropping from a record $33.9 billion to as low as $11.2 billion. The steep decline shows the magnitude by which ETH traders were hit during the digital asset’s latest correction.
To explain in simple words, open interest is the total number of active futures or options contracts that have not yet been closed. It shows the amount of money currently in the market, and is used to measure trader participation.
The highest volume of short liquidations, along with the fall in ETH price, was observed on Binance crypto exchange. The following chart displays ETH liquidations in the form of bubbles, making it easy to see whether long or short liquidations dominated and the size of the volumes involved.
It can be seen in the chart that at the end of June 2026, the size of long liquidation volumes on Binance was comparable to those seen on October 10th. Now, with this slight rebound in early July, shorts have dominated liquidation volumes on Binance, particularly on July 2 – making them the largest liquidations since 2022.
These dynamics clearly illustrate investor impatience in a market that’s currently moving very little. Some choose to add heavy leverage to their positions to try to profit from low volatility, and get caught out by this poorly managed risk taking.
ETH targeting $2,000 level
ETH has had an abysmal few quarters from a price perspective. In July, the digital asset made history by entering its third consecutive quarter in the red, dampening any sort of bullish sentiment toward the digital asset.
However, on a technical front, ETH printed a rare monthly buy signal on Thursday – and has followed through on the bullish promise. Meanwhile, institutional interest in ETH remains strong.
