TLDR
- Ether (ETH) dropped 13.8% over three days, retesting the $2,900 support level for the first time in four weeks
- ETH perpetual futures funding rates turned negative on Wednesday, with $480 million in bullish positions liquidated in two days
- US-listed Ether ETFs recorded $230 million in net outflows on Friday, reversing previous week’s inflow trend
- Ethereum network fees fell 20% while competitors Solana and BNB Chain saw fee increases of 36% and 27% respectively
- ETH rebounded above $3,000 after President Trump called off tariff hikes on European Union countries
Ether faced a sharp three-day correction of 13.8%, bringing its price down to retest the $2,900 support level on Wednesday. This marked the first time in four weeks that ETH had fallen to this price point.
The decline came as cryptocurrency markets turned risk-averse during a worsening socio-economic environment. Bitcoin and other major cryptocurrencies experienced similar selling pressure during the same period.
ETH managed to reclaim the $3,000 level after US President Donald Trump announced he would call off import tariff hikes on eight European Union countries. Trump posted on Truth Social about a “framework of a future deal with respect to Greenland” and confirmed the tariffs scheduled for February 1st would not go into effect.
🇺🇸 Trump says talks with NATO leadership led to a framework covering Greenland and the Arctic.
⏸️ Planned tariffs for February 1 are now on hold as negotiations continue. pic.twitter.com/0X525aTOrG
— Trader Edge (@Pro_Trader_Edge) January 22, 2026
The price recovery followed two days of heavy liquidations. A total of $480 million in bullish leveraged positions were wiped out during this timeframe.
Funding Rates Signal Shift in Trader Sentiment
The funding rate on ETH perpetual futures briefly turned negative on Wednesday. This meant that short sellers had to pay to keep their positions open, reversing the typical market structure.
Under normal market conditions, the funding rate ranges between 6% and 12%, with longs paying for leverage. The negative funding rate indicated a lack of confidence among traders.
Options market data showed traders demanding an 11% premium to hold downside exposure. This represented the highest level in seven weeks and reflected discomfort following multiple price rejections at $3,400 over the past 10 weeks.
ETF Outflows Raise Concerns
US-listed Ether ETFs saw $230 million in net outflows on Friday. This reversed the previous week’s trend of $96 million in average net inflows.
Crypto ETF Flows – Tuesday Jan 20th
🔴 Bitcoin $BTC spot ETFs recorded $483M in net outflows
🔴 Ethereum $ETH spot ETFs saw $230M in net outflows
🔴 XRP $XRP spot ETFs posted $53.32M in net outflows
🟢 Solana $SOL spot ETFs saw $3.08M in net inflows📊 Data powered by SoSoValue pic.twitter.com/XGwzuXirRH
— Trader Edge (@Pro_Trader_Edge) January 21, 2026
The ETFs currently hold over $17 billion worth of ETH. The combined outflows from bitcoin and ether ETFs reached around $713 million on Tuesday.
Companies with ETH reserve strategies faced heavy accounting losses. Bitmine Immersion and Sharplink were among the firms affected by the price decline.
Network Metrics Show Declining Activity
Ethereum network fees declined 20% from their baseline over the past week. Meanwhile, competitor Solana experienced 36% higher fees during the same period.
BNB Chain gathered 27% higher fees compared to Ethereum. Solana maintained its leadership in transaction volume, with Ethereum’s base layer and scaling solutions processing below 570 million transactions over seven days.
Over $1 billion worth of long and short liquidations occurred in the past 24 hours. Liquidations in the past 12 hours were roughly split between longs and shorts, with $544.16 million wiped out.
Bitcoin traded between $87,500 and $97,500 within the past hour following Trump’s tariff announcement.
