Ethereum traded near $1,800 on Friday, gaining roughly 3% between Thursday and Friday as renewed demand for spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and continued expansion in tokenized assets provided support. The move outpaced other major cryptocurrencies, but futures market data revealed that retail traders continued to sell into the weekend, creating a tug-of-war between institutional buying and weak short-term sentiment.
Institutional Demand Returns After Nine Weeks
Spot U.S. Ethereum ETFs recorded their first weekly inflow in nine weeks, with $84.4 million in net buying, according to SoSoValue. This ended eight consecutive weeks of net outflows and signaled a shift in institutional demand. The funds experienced net outflows only on July 9, when Ethereum dropped to roughly $1,748 and funds lost $52.08 million. The renewed buying helped Ethereum maintain its position near $1,800 through the weekend.
Institutional demand was further reflected in broader corporate accumulation. BitMine added 198,370 ETH over the past 30 days, bringing its reserves to approximately $10.3 billion. Additionally, a transfer of 20,500 ETH (worth about $36 million) from Galaxy Digital to a new wallet was flagged by Arkham Intelligence, following a pattern previously linked to large corporate ETH purchases.
Retail Traders Turn Bearish
In contrast, retail traders in the perpetual futures market moved in the opposite direction. Ethereum’s long-to-short ratio fell to 0.946, indicating that short positions now outnumber long positions. CoinGlass data showed an “extremely bearish” reading for large traders on OKX and Bybit, which handled roughly $4.10 billion and $1.19 billion in perpetual trading volume, respectively. One trader opened an ETH short position worth $12.43 million before the weekend.
Despite the bearish tilt, short sellers faced higher liquidation losses. Short liquidations reached $11.49 million, compared to $8.30 million for long traders, suggesting that bearish bets carried near-term risk even as selling activity increased.
Tokenization Growth Adds Support
Ethereum also gained support from the expanding tokenized asset market and the launch of Robinhood Chain, a layer-2 network that uses ETH for gas fees. Robinhood Chain attracted about $106 million in bridge deposits and offers tokenized stocks to users in 120 countries, adding activity to the Ethereum-compatible ecosystem.
Ethereum currently holds a 47% share of the real-world asset tokenization market, according to RWA.xyz. Analyst Leon Waidmann noted that Ethereum’s total value locked has reached $260 billion, surpassing Ether’s market value of about $210 billion, describing ETH as “underpriced.” However, network activity remains below earlier peaks. Ethereum decentralized applications generated $11 million in weekly revenue, down from $20 million in the first quarter, while active addresses fell to 3.2 million from 5.4 million.
Funding Rates and Resistance Levels
The annualized funding rate for ETH perpetual futures dropped to 3%, below the 6% level typically associated with balanced demand. This, combined with lower network activity, has kept Ethereum’s price recovery limited. ETH now faces resistance near $1,800 as ETF buying and tokenization demand compete with retail selling and weakening on-chain metrics.
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