After hitting a remarkable low of 0.019 BTC against Bitcoin, Ethereum rose by 52.63%, reaching 0.029 BTC.
Ethereum options show bold bets at $4,000 and above.
Ethereum (ETH) has made significant progress this week, with market data showing a growth of 22.5% since July 10.
Recently, ETH peaked at $3,484 per coin, and as of 10 AM Eastern Time on July 17, it is trading around $3,408.
Although Bitcoin has broken several historical highs this year, ETH has not reached a new record since November 10, 2021. At that time, Ethereum was sold for $4,878 per coin.
At today's price, ETH still needs to gain over 25% to match its peak from 2021. Looking at the derivatives market, ETH leads in liquidations.
In the last 24 hours, out of $583.42 million withdrawn from the crypto economy, ETH shorts accounted for $251 million of this amount.
Open interest in Ethereum futures has surged, exceeding $50.42 billion, with 14.75 million ETH locked in derivative contracts across all tracked exchanges.
Over the past year, open interest has steadily increased alongside the recovery of Ethereum's price. Binance tops the list with $8.75 billion in open interest (2.56 million ETH), making up 17.36% of the total volume. CME follows with $6.04 billion (1.77 million ETH), or 11.98%.
Ethereum options have significantly increased open interest, which now stands at over 3.52 million ETH, with 65.2% in call options and 34.8% in put options. This signals a market leaning towards optimism as traders prepare for further increases in the value of Ethereum.
Deribit leads in ETH options activity, with the highest open interest concentrated on call options expiring on September 26, 2025, at $4,000 (93,891 ETH), then at $3,600 (70,081 ETH), and on call options expiring on December 26, 2025, at $6,000 (59,832 ETH).
The concentration of high open interest in out-of-the-money strikes, such as $4,000, $4,200, and $6,000, indicates an optimistic position ahead of the autumn and winter expirations.
Overall, both open interest and recent trading volumes suggest that traders are preparing for a significant breakthrough in Ethereum, with options markets pricing in the potential for substantial profits in the second half of 2025.
