Ethereum's Open Interest Approaches $60 Billion with ETH Flirting Near Record Peak
In the past week, Ethereum (ETH) has been capturing the attention of investors, with its price approaching its all-time high. This surge is due to a combination of factors, including increasing institutional and retail demand, leverage and speculative trading, and strong bullish sentiment.
Key drivers of this trend include record-breaking futures open interest, rising bullish leverage positions, and strong derivatives activity. As of August 2025, ETH futures open interest has reached around $35.5 billion across various platforms, with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) alone recording a record $8.3 billion.
Traders have rebuilt leverage across exchanges, increasing their ETH futures positions to capitalize on the ongoing price rally. This includes both retail and institutional investors, with short positions being aggressively liquidated, such as $66 million in short liquidations in August 2025, reinforcing upward momentum.
Options open interest has also climbed to approximately $16.1 billion, with call premiums outpacing puts, indicating that investors expect further price increases and are using options for bullish speculation or hedging.
Ethereum's price appreciation has encouraged more entrants and leveraged bets, pushing futures open interest higher. While open interest in ETH terms is slightly below prior peaks, the nominal dollar value of open interest has surged with the price rise.
Ethereum's share of total crypto open interest has increased significantly, now reaching about 43.3% of total open interest dominance, the fourth largest level ever. This reflects a rotation of risk appetite toward Ethereum and altcoins broadly, signaling intensified speculative interest.
Institutions are also accumulating ETH holdings at record rates, with institutional holdings growing 68.4% to 6.1 million ETH, alongside ETF inflows and expectations around regulatory clarity and staking potential, which could drive valuations higher.
However, it's important to note that the absolute leverage demand in ETH terms compared to prior peaks is weaker. Additionally, competition from other layer-1 blockchains may challenge Ethereum’s dominance in DeFi and corporate adoption.
Despite these counterpoints, the combined effect of these factors—leveraged speculative trading, strong price momentum, institutional engagement, and growing market focus on Ethereum—have together driven the surge in open interest and positioned ETH close to its all-time high achieved in November 2021.
Analysts are optimistic that this week's price gains are not a fluke, thanks to recent regulatory shifts conducive to Ethereum's institutional adoption. Ethereum is currently taking center stage for investors due to its surging price, with the open interest in Ethereum futures positions nearly twice the value of open positions just weeks ago, in late June.
As of writing, $57.31 billion in derivatives positions are open and pending on Ethereum's future price, according to CoinGlass. Open interest in Ethereum futures positions reached nearly $60 billion on Tuesday, and is within range of the all-time high of $58 billion it set on July 28. Ethereum last set an all-time high of $4,878 in November 2021, and there's still a 12% price gap ETH needs to close to reach a new all-time high.
In the same period, only $70 million worth of Bitcoin positions were liquidated, highlighting the intensity of the current focus on Ethereum.
[1] CoinGlass (2025). Ethereum Futures Open Interest Reaches New Highs. [online] Available at: https://coinglass.com/reports/ethereum-futures-open-interest-reaches-new-highs [Accessed 20 Aug. 2025].
[2] Binance (2025). Ethereum Futures Open Interest Surges. [online] Available at: https://www.binance.com/en/blog/industry/ethereum-futures-open-interest-surges/ [Accessed 20 Aug. 2025].
[3] CME Group (2025). Ethereum Futures Volume Hits Record Highs. [online] Available at: https://www.cmegroup.com/trading/ether-futures/eth-futures-volume-hits-record-highs.html [Accessed 20 Aug. 2025].
[4] Glassnode (2025). Ethereum Institutional Adoption on the Rise. [online] Available at: https://glassnode.com/research/ethereum-institutional-adoption-on-the-rise [Accessed 20 Aug. 2025].
[5] Messari (2025). Ethereum's Dominance in Crypto Open Interest and Perpetual Futures Trading Volume. [online] Available at: https://messari.io/article/ethereum-s-dominance-in-crypto-open-interest-and-perpetual-futures-trading-volume [Accessed 20 Aug. 2025].
