Key Takeaways
- ETH surged past $2,800 amid rising institutional interest, low resistance, and strong liquidity, suggesting potential upside toward $3,000, despite caution over increasing exchange reserves.
Ethereum [ETH] recently broke past the $2,800 mark for the first time in weeks, gaining over 7% in the last 24 hours.
Reclaiming this level suggests that more investors are becoming active in the market, increasing the likelihood of further price movement to the upside.
At the time of writing, ETH recorded a major surge in market liquidity. With no significant resistance levels immediately ahead, the asset could climb to a new high of $3,000.
Liquidity surge on CME confirms interest
According to Glassnode, there has been a spike in Open Interest (OI) on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), measured by the 7-day Simple Moving Average (SMA).
OI recently surged to $3.27 billion, marking its highest level since the 2nd of February 2025. This increase strongly indicates a growing inflow of institutional capital into the market.
Source: Glassnode
AMBCrypto also analyzed ETH spot Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) on CoinGlass to determine whether these investors have allocated more funds to the asset.
Interestingly, institutional traders have indeed been active. In the past day alone, they accumulated $211 million worth of ETH from the market.
This marked the largest single-day purchase since the 6th of June, when over $240 million was spent on ETH, further fueling the ongoing rally.
A clear road ahead for ETH?
With growing bullish pressure—particularly from institutional players—AMBCrypto’s analysis suggests that ETH faces little resistance ahead.
According to IntoTheBlock’s In/Out of the Money Around Price (IOMAP), there are only two resistance levels visible, with sell volume at 3.44 million and 3.42 million ETH.
Source: IntoTheBlock
These resistance volumes are relatively low and, as illustrated in the IOMAP chart, fall between $3,222.13 and $4,816.30.
This minimal selling pressure suggests that ETH could continue its upward rally with limited corrections, especially if liquidity keeps rising.
Retail investors also appear to be holding their ETH rather than sending it to exchanges, according to CryptoQuant.
The number of Depositing Addresses on centralized exchanges has dropped to 23,000 and continues to trend downward.
Source: CryptoQuant
This behavior implies fewer funds are being sent to exchanges, unlike before, as investors opt for self-custody, a historically bullish signal.
Exchange reserves rise—Should investors be concerned?
Not all market indicators are currently bullish. One area that signals caution is the Exchange Reserve metric, which is rising despite the broader uptrend.
Over the past day, the total amount of ETH held on centralized exchanges has increased to 18.9 million.
Source: CryptoQuant
A continued rise in exchange balances could indicate an incoming demand squeeze, a situation where supply surpasses demand, potentially leading to price drops.
However, with depositing addresses still declining, the risk of a demand squeeze appears minimal for now.
Currently, increased buying activity—particularly from institutional investors—remains a major force in sustaining ETH’s upward trajectory and suppressing the impact of growing reserves.
