Key takeaways:
Ether’s price has rallied 108% to $2,880 since April 9.
ETH futures open interest hit all-time highs of $20 billion, signaling bullish sentiment.
Ether’s bullish cup-and-handle pattern targets $4,200.
Ether (ETH) price gained 108% between April 9 and Wednesday, reaching $2,880 for the first time since Feb. 8. This significantly outperformed the broader cryptocurrency market, which rose by 49% during the same period.
Ether futures open interest rose to its highest level on Thursday, leading traders to speculate whether ETH price might also rally to new all-time highs.
Ether futures show ETH traders are bullish
ETH futures open interest (OI) (cash-margined) hit a new all-time high of over $20 billion on Thursday, up 155% since April 9, as per data from Glassnode.
The Futures OI Cash Margin Perpetual metric measures the total amount of funds (in USD value) allocated in open perpetual futures contracts that are collateralized with cash. It helps assess the market participation level and the amount of capital at risk in cash-margined perpetual futures.
Rising open interest indicates increased market participation and new money flowing into ETH futures contracts.
This influx suggests growing confidence among traders and investors, often a precursor to price gains as demand strengthens.
Glassnode noted that traders use stablecoins to gain exposure to ETH via futures contracts, reflecting a strategic shift to risk-on despite the price pullback from $2,800.
This comes as stablecoin market capitalization reached a new all-time high at $228 billion, up 17% year-to-date.
Stablecoins are booming again.
Market cap hit a record $228B, up $33B (+17%) in 2025.
Driven by rising trading activity, growing payment use, and clearer U.S. regulation under Trump. pic.twitter.com/76zKj49UWB
— CryptoQuant.com (@cryptoquant_com) June 12, 2025
Ether gains on Bitcoin
ETH price has more than doubled since April 9, outperforming Bitcoin (BTC), whose price has risen by 44% vs the US dollar over the same period.
The ETH/BTC pair, or Ether’s value in Bitcoin, is also up nearly 50% since April 9, reaching a 14-week high of 0.02623 on Wednesday. ETH/BTC trades at around 0.02561 at the time of writing.
“$ETH continues to show strength as it’s up 50% against #Bitcoin since the low in April,” said MN Capital founder Michael van de Poppe in a Wednesday post on X.
Related: Bitcoin, ETH price coil after inflation cools and US-China tariffs roll back
According to the trader, the continuous strength of ETH suggests that the “bull market is finally starting.” He added:
“I think we’re fairly underestimating the potential of this entire market.”
As Cointelegraph reported, ETH/BTC’s strengthening structure could trigger a breakout in Ether’s price.
Ether’s cup-and-handle chart pattern eyes $4,200
The ETH/USD pair has been forming a cup-and-handle chart pattern on its daily chart time frame since Feb. 12.
The pattern will resolve when the price breaks above the pattern’s neckline, rallying as high as the length of the prior decline. The ETH/USD daily chart below illustrates that the price has broken out of the handle and is now retesting the neckline resistance at $2,800.
A decisive daily candlestick close above the neckline will clear the path toward the technical target of the prevailing chart pattern above $4,170 and beyond.
Analyst Daan Crypto Trades said that the $2,800 level (coinciding with the neckline in the chart above), is “important ” as it could trigger a big breakout for ETH price.
$ETH The $2.8K level is important throughout this cycle. It has sparked the biggest moves after retesting or breaking above/below it.
So keep an eye on this area and watch for high timeframe breakouts or rejections. pic.twitter.com/SAN3b1Xszj
— Daan Crypto Trades (@DaanCrypto) June 11, 2025
As Cointelegraph reported, Ether’s breakout from a bull flag could result in 30% gains to $3,670.
This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.
