TLDR
- Ether plunged to $1,800, liquidating $224 million in long positions across two days
- Derivatives traders turned pessimistic with put-to-call volume ratio reaching 2.2x
- Total value locked on Ethereum declined to $51 billion, the weakest level since May 2025, while monthly fees dropped to $13.7 million
- Spot Ether ETFs recorded $405 million in withdrawals from Feb. 11, reducing total AUM to $12.4 billion
- Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin liquidated 3,788 ETH valued at approximately $7.3 million across three days, intensifying bearish sentiment
Ether, the native cryptocurrency of the Ethereum blockchain, slid to $1,800 during the current trading week, marking a 14% pullback across ten consecutive days. This downturn resulted in $224 million worth of leveraged long positions getting liquidated in just two days.
The price decline has triggered a defensive stance among market participants. Derivatives exchange Deribit reported Tuesday’s put-to-call volume ratio surged to 2.2x, indicating traders are heavily purchasing downside protection instead of positioning for upside moves.
The delta skew metric in the options market climbed to 18%, revealing that put contracts command a substantial premium relative to call options. Such asymmetric positioning typically emerges when market participants anticipate further declines.
Ether currently trades 63% beneath its record high. Nevertheless, meaningful buying interest remains absent from current price levels.
Blockchain Metrics Signal Declining Engagement
Onchain analytics paint a troubling picture. The total value locked across Ethereum’s ecosystem has contracted to $51 billion, representing the lowest measurement recorded since May 2025.
Transaction fees collected over the trailing 30-day period totaled merely $13.7 million. This figure stands in stark contrast to the $33 million monthly baseline observed throughout late 2025, indicating substantial erosion in decentralized application activity.
Declining fee generation combined with shrinking TVL suggests diminished demand for Ethereum’s computational resources, which certain market analysts interpret as concerning for ETH’s fundamental investment thesis.
Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin liquidated 3,788.57 ETH tokens valued at approximately $7.3 million during the past 72 hours, as reported by onchain intelligence platform Lookonchain. Although Buterin historically allocates ETH proceeds toward philanthropic initiatives and protocol development, the transaction timing compounded negative market psychology during an already challenging period.
Blockchain tracking service Arkham indicates that addresses associated with Buterin maintain over $430 million in digital assets, demonstrating that these recent transactions represent only a minor portion of his aggregate cryptocurrency holdings.
Exchange-Traded Products See Capital Flight
U.S.-based spot Ether ETFs have experienced $405 million in aggregate net redemptions beginning February 11. Combined assets under management for these investment vehicles declined to $12.4 billion.
These outflows occurred simultaneously with gold-backed ETFs attracting $822 million during the week concluded February 20, as gold prices exceeded $5,150, pointing toward potential institutional capital reallocation from cryptocurrency to precious metals.
ETH’s 20-day price correlation coefficient with Bitcoin has maintained readings above 95% throughout three successive weeks, indicating Ether continues mirroring BTC price action, which itself descended below $65,000 this trading week.
The elevated put-to-call ratio persists while ETF redemptions extended through the latest available trading data.
