Ethereum’s Harrowing Week: Leverage, Liquidations, and a Price That Won’t Quit

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Ethereum, old bean, continues to hobble about beneath the venerable two-thousand-dollar barrier, like a pugilist who can’t quite land a glove on the bell. Market pressure prances about as traders await a crisp, directional cue. That psychological threshold remains a stubborn spectre, leaving sentiment cautious, volatility puffing up its cheeks, and liquidity playing a merry game of hide-and-seek. Prices have steadied a touch after a recent tumble, but the lay of the land still suggests Ethereum is primed for a decisive move that could stamp its short-term passport.

A CryptoQuant telegram, if you will, offers the essential tea-leaf reading: one of the stiffer spells since mid-2021. The seven-day simple moving average of long liquidations on Binance has crept to roughly 9,000 ETH as of February 6, 2026. Not a flash-in-the-pan spike, mind you, but a smooth weekly hum that signals sustained pressure rather than a theatrical splash.

What this pattern suggests is that leveraged long positions have been unwound, not in a single coup de théâtre but gradually over several days. A case of persistent deleveraging rather than a sudden capitulation. In the old days, such protracted liquidation bouts could reset the lever, trim speculative froth, and leave sentiment looking a bit fragility-prone. Whether this little drama stabilizes Ethereum or nudges it lower depends on liquidity and the broader mood in the market.

Sustained Liquidations Signal Derivatives Market Reset

The CryptoQuant bulletin further notes that Ethereum’s slide from the $3,000 neighborhood to the $2,000 region didn’t trigger a capitulation. Rather, it was a long, polite procession of margin calls, with leveraged longs unwinding across several consecutive days. A sign of stress in the derivatives bazaar rather than a single, dramatic collapse, indicating traders faced steady pressure as the price crept lower.

Looking back, the intensity and duration of this phase seem to outstrip the grand capitulations of the 2022 bear era. Such extended liquidation activity tends to herald a broad deleveraging cycle, where over-rosy speculative positions are pruned. It often reshapes the market structure by trimming leverage-driven volatility and coaxing in a more balanced risk atmosphere.

The upshot is that Ethereum may already have undergone a significant leverage reset in recent weeks. Persistently elevated liquidation averages can sometimes presage seller exhaustion: weaker players exit, and the selling pressure gradually eases.

The durability of any recovery will likely depend on renewed spot demand and macro liquidity conditions. And, of course, investor confidence must return after this lengthy spell of derivatives-driven stress.

Ethereum Tests Long-Term Support: Weekly Structure Weakens

Ethereum’s weekly chart reveals mounting structural pressure after losing the $2,000 hinge, a number that has served as both psychological prop and technical pivot. The breakdown places ETH below major trend-defining moving averages, hinting at waning bullish momentum and a tilt toward a more defensive market mood.

The price action shows a clean rejection from the $3,000 region earlier in the cycle, followed by a string of lower highs-a classic tell of a transitional or corrective phase. The latest decline also comes with rising trading volume, often associated with distribution or unwinding of leveraged positions rather than organic accumulation. All of which underlines the sense of ongoing market stress rather than a fresh breeze.

Structurally, the next meaningful support sits around mid-$1,500 to $1,700, a zone where previous consolidation and demand showed their faces in earlier chapters. Holding above this band would help preserve the broader long-term bullish storyline, even as the current act flirts with weakness. A sustained break below could tilt sentiment toward a deeper corrective waltz.

Ethereum remains sensitive to macro liquidity conditions, derivatives positioning, and overall crypto sentiment, with any recovery hinging on renewed spot demand and stabilization above key technical levels.

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2026-02-13 06:40