The post Ethereum Relief Rally Masks Derivatives Weakness as Open Interest Falls appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com.

The Ethereum price shows a bullish rebound from the support trendline of a triangle. The contraction in OI suggests forced liquidations of leveraged long positions as the downtrend strengthened. ETH’s fear and greed index at  35%highlights a fear sentiment among market participants. On Wednesday, January 2, 2026, the Ethereum price bounced over 2.6% to reach its trading value of $3,015. The renewed buying pressure followed U.S. President Doland Trump’s decision to cancel EU tariffs and announce a framework for the Greenland deal. However, the uptick is still considered a short relief rally to recuperate the exhausted bearish momentum before next breakdown. The latest on-chain data further accentuated the selling pressure from large investors, accelerating a risk of prolonged correction. Whales Move 110K ETH as Ethereum Price Corrects  Over the past week, the Ethereum price plunged from $3,400 to current trading value of 15.68%. Consequently , the asset’s market cap plunged to $363.6 billion. The downswing primarily triggered with geopolitical tension as Trump announced additional tariffs on eight European nations, which he recently revoked. However, the open interest associated with the ETH’s further contract also retraced from $41.67 billion to $38.4, projecting a 7% drop. The loss of open interest can be attributed to forced liquidation of long positioned traders as market downtrend accelerated. In addition, traders likely exited their existing position to reduce exposure to leveraged trades, withdrawing cf speculative force from the market.   In addition, a report by analyst Ali Martinez indicates that big holders are making major shifts as over 110,000 ETH tokens have been moved about in the last nine days, indicating that large participants are making active changes through the volatility. Historically, the whale exit has often coincided with major market tops and aggressive correction in price The derivative data and whale behaviour showing uncertainty…

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Filed under: News - @ January 22, 2026 12:28 pm