Ethereum open interest plummets from $33 billion to $10 billion

The Ethereum derivatives market is facing severe headwinds. Since August 2025, open interest has been steadily declining, falling from a peak of $33.1 billion to just $10.4 billion at present. That is a drop of almost two-thirds, illustrating how hard the correction has hit the derivatives market. The Ethereum price currently stands at $1.650. a loss of 5.6% over the past 24 hours.

Ethereum is available at OKX and Bybit.

Forced liquidations and declining confidence

The sharp contraction in open interest cannot be attributed to a single cause. Forced liquidations play a role, but falling prices also automatically reduce the value of outstanding positions. In addition, traders are voluntarily closing their positions because the market environment offers little room for risky trades.

According to analyst Darkfost, the lack of confidence among market participants is therefore unsurprising, given the broader unfavourable market conditions. The metric speaks for itself: interest in Ethereum derivatives is simply low at this moment.

Binance dominates with over 40% market share

Despite the broad downturn, Binance has managed to further strengthen its position. With an open interest of $4.2 billion, Binance leads the market, ahead of Gate.io with $1.9 billion and OKX with $1.4 billion. Binance’s market share has thus crossed the 40% threshold for the first time, specifically 40.23% of the total ETH derivatives market. Gate.io follows at 18.64%, while OKX accounts for 13.6%, Bybit for 12.89% and HTX Global for 11.4%.

The fact that Binance is expanding its dominance precisely at this time shows that volume is concentrating among the largest players during contractions. Notably, the derivatives market remains significantly larger than either the spot market or the ETF market despite everything. Once risk appetite returns, the derivatives market is likely to be the first sector where that becomes noticeable. Whether that recovery will come quickly remains questionable given the current developments surrounding Ethereum.