Ethereum (ETH) trades at $2,313 with nearly $31B in open interest, sitting between a long bleed below and a short squeeze trap above $2,400.

ETH Liquidation Setup

Longs absorbed $31.47M in losses over the past 24 hours, roughly 2.25 times the pain taken by shorts, according to a recent research from Leverage.Trading.

Short traders are paying longs. Funding sits at negative 0.007% despite longs outnumbering shorts 2:1 by account count, a signal that heavier leverage is concentrated on the bearish side.

Price has rejected $2,400 multiple times. A clean break would force trapped shorts to buy back, and the $2,200 ascending channel floor keeps the setup alive in either direction.

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Cascade Warning

Anton Palovaara of Leverage.Trading says liquidations cluster and compound, with forced closes pushing price further and triggering the next cluster in sequence.

"ETH isn't trending, it's loaded," Palovaara said. "Break $2,400 and you're not just seeing buyers, you're seeing forced buybacks on top of it. That's how cascades start."

At $31B in open interest, even a 5% move can ripple through billions in notional value across exchanges.

Ether has gained 6.65% over the past 30 days and more than 22% across the last 60, with $45.42M wiped in a single 24-hour window as leverage built up on both sides of the book.

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