Posted:
- ETHs taker buy-sell ratio (30-day SMA) recently fell to its lowest level this year.
- While ETH open rates fell, long positions dominated the futures market.
Ethereums [ETH] the taker buy-sell ratio, judged by a 30-day simple moving average (SMA), fell to its lowest level this year on Aug. 28, data from CryptoQuant showed. This indicated that the altcoin futures market is full of more sell orders than buy orders.

Source: CryptoQuant
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The taker buy-sell ratio is a metric that measures the ratio between the buying volume and the selling volume on the futures market of an asset. A value greater than 1 indicates more buying volume than selling volume, while a value less than 1 indicates more selling volume than buying volume.
According to a recently published report According to the CryptoQuant analyst, who goes by the pseudonym “Greatest_Trader,” ETH’s taker buy-sell ratio has spent the past few months on a “downward trajectory” to hit an annual low late last month.
The analyst said:
“This consistent behavior underscores the dominant bearish sentiment among futures traders participating in the Ethereum market.”
Throughout it all, market participants have continued to “lunge” ETH.
An assessment of ETH’s open interest in futures confirms this trend. At $4.67 billion at the time of writing, the currency’s open interest was at its lowest level yet this year. The decline began on April 19 and has since dropped by 36%, data shows Mint glass revealed.

Source: Coinglass
Since the start of the open interest decline, ETH has fallen from the $2000 psychological price level and has since failed to regain it. In the past 138 days, the coin has mostly traded within a tight range between $1600 and $1800.
Given the context of recent market movements, the price consolidation of ETH and the associated drop in open rates show that alt holders have reduced their large speculative positions in recent months as sentiment deteriorates.
The fall in outstanding interest may also be due to cyclical factors, such as summer problems. Since June, the overall market has traded sideways, with very few episodes of price increases.
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While the daily number of open positions on the ETH futures market has declined in recent months, funding rates on the leading cryptocurrency exchanges have been significantly positive.

Source: CryptoQuant
Aside from the severe drop on March 12, ETH funding rates have been positive for most of the year. This indicates that long positions have continued to outperform short positions despite sideways price movements.