Key takeaways
- Ether trades above $3,600 after gaining 6% over the weekend.
- Technical indicators point to bullish momentum and the coin could approach $3,900.
Derivatives market strength signals bullish trend
The cryptocurrency market started the week on a positive note, as reflected in futures and options markets. Ethereum futures and options show strong bullish sentiment, with total open interest (OI) in futures across exchanges around $40.11 billion, equivalent to roughly 11.5 million ETH in total exposure.
Data from Coinglass shows Binance, the largest crypto exchange by daily trading volume, holds the largest open interest at $8.15 billion, followed closely by CME with $7.57 billion.
Rising volumes indicate growing institutional exposure to the Ethereum market.
The options market is also tilted bullish: call options represent 65.05% of all open interest, while put options account for 34.95%. There are about 2.1 million ETH in call options and 1.13 million ETH in put options. This distribution suggests most traders expect Ethereum’s price to rise in the short term.
Many traders anticipate a new all-time high for Ether within months, with price targets commonly ranging between $4,000 and $6,000 by year-end. At the time of writing, ETH trades above $3,600 per coin.
ETH eyes $3,900 as technical indicators turn bullish
On the 4-hour ETH/USD chart, momentum has flipped positive after recent gains for Ether. Short-term technical indicators now show a bullish bias, favoring buyers for the moment.
A 4-hour RSI around 63 indicates buyers are in control, and continued upside could push the RSI into overbought territory. MACD lines are also in positive territory, reinforcing the bullish outlook.
If the recovery continues, ETH may test the next major resistance near $3,910 within hours or days. A sustained rally could drive Ether toward the trendline resistance and the next major resistance level around $4,271.
Conversely, a market correction could cool momentum and send ETH back toward last Friday’s low near $3,197.