Bitmine Chairman Tom Lee says rising oil prices are the primary short-term headwind for Ethereum, noting an unprecedented inverse correlation between the assets. He maintains that long-term structural drivers like tokenization and AI infrastructure support a stronger price outlook for ETH through 2026, even as the asset trades near $2,100 following a significant market liquidation event.
Fundstrat’s Tom Lee stated that rising oil prices are the biggest reason Ethereum has been struggling. He noted the inverse correlation between ETH and oil has hit its highest level ever recorded.
Ethereum is trading near $2,100, down roughly 12% over the past month. The decline accelerated on May 18 amid geopolitical tensions, with Bitcoin also sliding to around $76,700.
Over $660 million in leveraged positions were liquidated across the market, according to data from CoinGlass. Ethereum accounted for $256 million of that total wipeout.
Analyst Amr Taha shared figures showing taker sell volume on Binance crossed $1.1 billion. Market observer CW noted that only about $600 million in high-leverage ETH long positions remain, compared to $6.3 billion in shorts.
Despite the near-term weakness, Lee framed the oil dynamic as short-term noise. “These structural drivers are in place,” he wrote, referring to tokenization and agentic AI.
Lee concluded, “Thus, we expect ETH prices to be stronger as we move through 2026.” The ETH/BTC pair recently fell under 0.028, a 10-month low.
