Ether hovered near $2,060 on Wednesday, nursing losses after briefly sliding toward $2,000 on Tuesday as hot US inflation data and another day of heavy selling from exchange-traded funds piled pressure on the second-largest cryptocurrency. Ether traded at about $2,057 in morning trading, down roughly 3% on the day, with its 24-hour low at $2,006, according to Finnhub and Investing.com data.
US spot Ether ETFs recorded a fourth straight day of net outflows on Tuesday, though the daily figure shrank to just $1.3 million, Coinotag reported. The cumulative outflow since the run began on November 5 has now reached $379.1 million, with BlackRock’s ETHA accounting for most of the exits. The previous session, November 9, saw $184.6 million leave the funds, Farside Investors data cited by FXStreet showed, the third straight session of withdrawals at that point.
Liquidations add to the selling
Leveraged traders felt the pain too. More than $259 million in Ether positions were liquidated in 24 hours, with long positions accounting for almost $192 million of the total, according to Crypto.news. The selling came as October CPI rose 0.4%, above forecast, reviving expectations of a December Federal Reserve rate rise.
Stakers refuse to blink
Beneath the selling, one group is holding firm. About 44.5 million Ether, or 36.4% of circulating supply, remains staked, FXStreet reported, and the queue of holders waiting to exit staking has collapsed from about 457,840 Ether on October 11 to roughly 66,000 now. Analysts say a sustained recovery above $2,200 would strengthen the case for a rebound, while a break below $1,950 could trigger further declines.
Not everyone is selling. Institutional treasury firm BitMine has continued buying Ether even as prices fell, according to Crypto.news, and Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin has described Ether as a store of value, remarks that drew fresh attention as the price slid. The tension between that long-term buying and the short-term ETF selling is the market’s central argument right now: one side sees a discounted asset with a growing staked supply, while the other sees a token below all its major moving averages, with the 20-day average near $2,260 and the 200-day near $2,154, according to TradersUnion. Which side wins will likely be decided at the $2,000 level.
Related reading: Ether Tests $2,100 Support as ETF Outflows Reach $184 Million and Bitcoin Holds $74,500 Ahead of CPI Report
