Ether fell about 4% over two days after briefly reaching $3,400 on Wednesday, as professional traders showed neutral-to-bearish positioning and $65 million in leveraged long futures were liquidated (Ed. note: $65 million in liquidations occurred). Markets reacted to weaker decentralized application demand and falling network fees, which reduced staking returns and investor incentive to hold positions.
Monthly ETH futures traded at roughly a 4% annualized premium to spot, a level below the 5% threshold often seen as bearish, according to laevitas.ch. Price action tracked a broader crypto decline of about 28% since Oct. 6, 2025, per charts on TradingView.
Layer activity showed mixed signals: base-layer transactions on Ethereum rose 28% over 30 days while standardized average fees dropped 31%, and Base scaling solution transactions fell 26%, as reported by Nansen. Competing chains saw steadier transactions and rising fees.
Staking still holds roughly 30% of total ETH supply, but lower fees cut staking returns and reduced holder incentives. U.S. spot ETFs recorded a modest $123 million net inflow since Jan. 7, while corporate buyers remain underwater; Bitmine Immersion trades below its $13.7 billion ETH reserve and Sharplink has $2.84 billion in ETH against a $2.05 billion market cap. Options markets showed a 6% put premium, per laevitas.ch, signaling limited bullish expectations for a move to $4,100.
