Ether Surges 13.5% to $2,925 Despite Cautious Traders

Ether (ETH) has seen a significant price rally, increasing by 13.5% over two days to reach $2,925. However, despite this bullish momentum, professional traders remain cautious about the near-term prospects of ETH surpassing the $3,000 mark. The ETH derivatives markets, including futures and options, show a lack of confidence, indicating that traders are not fully convinced about the potential for further gains.

The Ether monthly futures premium currently stands at 5%, which is on the edge between neutral and bearish territory. While this is an improvement from the prior week’s 3.5% premium, it is still far from the bullish signal seen on Jan. 23, when ETH traded above $3,300. This cautious stance among professional traders suggests that they are not yet confident in a sustained price rally.

Ethereum's layer-2 ecosystem has shown strong performance, generating $58.6 billion in decentralized exchange (DEX) volumes over the past 30 days. However, the reduction in rollup fees through data blobs has not translated into increased demand for ETH. This is evident in the decline of Ethereum network fees, which fell 22% to $34.8 million over the past 30 days. Despite the increase in total value locked (TVL) on the Ethereum network, from $50 billion to $73 billion, trading volume on DEXs has dropped to a nine-month low.

The options market also reflects this cautious sentiment. The ETH options delta skew currently sits at -3%, indicating balanced interest between bullish and bearish strategies. This has been the case for the past four weeks and represents a modest improvement from the prior week’s reading of +1%. The lack of confidence in the ETH derivatives markets suggests that traders are not fully convinced about the potential for a sustained rally.

Recent ETH price gains appear to be largely driven by a four-day net inflow of $468 million into US-listed exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Additional supporting factors include ETH purchases by ShapLink Gaming and Bit Digital as part of their treasury strategies. However, it remains unclear whether institutional demand will persist, and for now, ETH derivatives reflect limited conviction in a sustained rally.