Ethereum may have taken the biggest hit of any large-cap altcoin in February, with its value falling more than 36% in the past month. The second-largest cryptocurrency has deepened its troubles over the past week, struggling to keep its price above the $2,000 level.
On Friday, February 27, the price of Ethereum fell by more than 5%, to just above $1,900. Interestingly, a recent on-chain review reveals the possible reason behind the sub-$2,000 altcoin’s latest troubles.
ETH Taker volume sees a steady increase on Friday
In a February 27 post on the social media platform, crypto expert Maartunn said revealed the source of the recent bearish pressure that Ethereum price is witnessing. The relevant on-chain indicator here is Taker Sell Volume, which saw steady spikes across all exchanges throughout Friday.
Related reading
For context, the Taker Sell Volume metric measures the total volume of sell orders filled by takers (market participants that match existing orders created by market makers) in perpetual Ethereum swaps. Therefore, a rise in the indicator can be interpreted as a bearish signal, implying that the market is flooded with sell orders.
As seen in the chart above, Ethereum Taker’s sales volume rose to 105 million ETH on Friday. This puts some context for the day’s drop in ETH price, as the spike in this measure is a sign of heavy selling pressure in the market earlier.
The price of ETH, which started the day above $2,000, quickly fell to around $1,920 as the weekend approached.
Ethereum price overview
At the time of writing, ETH’s price is around $1,925, reflecting a drop of more than 5% in the last 24 hours. However, the action over the past week has been relatively mild, with the second-largest cryptocurrency losing almost 2% of its value over the past seven days.
The selling pressure seen by the Ethereum price over the past day is not new, as has been the case in recent weeks. This trend can be seen in the recent performance of ETH exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
According to recent market data, investors have withdrawn approximately 563,600 ETH (worth nearly $1.13 billion) from US-based Ethereum ETFs over the past five weeks. These significant ETF outflows underline the shift in investor sentiment and demand since the last week of January.
Market sentiment and demand must change optimistically for ETH price to witness a bullish reversal soon.
Related reading
Featured image from iStock, chart from TradingView