Opinion: ETH deleveraging is nearing its end—hidden rebound opportunities amid panic

CryptoQuant analyst Darkfost noted on October 25 that altcoins have broadly underperformed over the past three weeks—with Ethereum (ETH) particularly hard hit: ETH’s price corrected roughly 15%, and its market cap shrank by approximately $54 billion. Derivatives markets reacted even more sharply—ETH open interest on Binance fell by about $1.3 billion, or nearly 20%, over the past month, dropping to roughly $5.7 billion; total ETH open interest across all exchanges has now declined to approximately $11.5 billion. Darkfost believes the current broad-based deleveraging is driven primarily by two factors: passive liquidations triggered by falling prices, and active position reduction by traders. Looking back historically, a more pronounced drop in open interest occurred in July—after which ETH staged a technical rebound of over 32%, reclaiming the $2,800 level. Such deleveraging episodes typically coincide with heightened market fear and often mark the tail end of a correction.