Ethereum fell sharply on January 21, 2026, after failing to hold above the $3,400 resistance level and snapping key ascending support. The drop pushed price to about $3,000 and triggered selling across spot and derivatives markets.
Analyst Kamran Asghar stated the move came from sellers at the $3,400 zone. “Perfectly played off the OTE Selling Area at $3,400. We’ve now snapped the ascending support, and the path of least resistance is looking like a trip back to the $2,600 value area.”
Trading activity increased as price fell, with spot volume above $31 billion and derivatives at about $71.8 billion. Open interest declined roughly 5% to near $39.4 billion, indicating many traders closed positions.
Order book heatmaps show buy interest below the market, with demand in the $2,800–$2,850 range and larger walls near $2,500–$2,600. Analyst Kriptoholder noted this liquidity, saying “The order book heatmap transparently reveals the true liquidity depth resting below the price action.”
US spot ETH ETFs recorded net outflows of about $230 million on January 20, ending a five-day inflow streak. Exchange reserves fell to 16.2 million ETH, which CryptoQuant reported, and Binance saw reserves slip toward 4.0 million ETH (Ed. note: this reserve level is the lowest since 2016).
Staking reached a new record, locking more coins and reducing circulating supply. Some traders still point to a larger bullish structure and a long-term target near $4,400, while Bitcoinsensus asked, “Is a $10K ETH on the table for this cycle?”
