Disclaimer: The opinion expressed here is not investment advice – it is provided for informational purposes only. It does not necessarily reflect the opinion of BitMaden. Every investment and all trading involves risk, so you should always perform your own research prior to making decisions. We do not recommend investing money you cannot afford to lose.

Mass Liquidations and Volatility: $OM Futures See Sharp Open Interest Collapse and Leverage Spike

Native to the MANTRA ecosystem, the $OM token experienced a shocking sequence of market events on April 13 that reverberated throughout derivatives markets. In a rapid set of moves that should have been impossible, the Open Interest (OI) in $OM futures collapsed from $261 million to just $121 million within 10 minutes, starting at 18:10 UTC. This sudden contraction was the first leg in a broad-based futures unwind that coincided with an aggressive sell-off in the price of the token. At 19:40 UTC, the OI had dropped to a daily low of $47 million, while the spot price of $OM had tumbled to $0.45. This one-two punch reflects a serious confidence crisis in the market, with a number of exchanges apparently dealing with a cascade of liquidations. It’s increasingly looking like the kind of aggressive unwinding of futures positions that gets tied to mass liquidations and overleveraged traders being forced out of their positions. Leveraged Positions Surge Despite Unwinding Interestingly, while Open Interest was rapidly falling, a counterintuitive trend began to emerge. The Estimated Leverage Ratio (ELR) — a metric that compares the ratio of Open Interest to exchange reserves — nearly doubled to 0.4 by 19:30 UTC, right as the price broke down toward $0.57. Typically, a rising ELR suggests increasing speculative leverage in the market. However, in this case, the surge in ELR occurred even as OI was shrinking, signaling a different dynamic at play. $OM futures Open Interest collapsed from $261M to $121M within 10 minutes starting at 18:10 UTC on Apr 13, just as price began falling. By 19:40 UTC, OI hit a low of $47M as price dropped to $0.45 — a rapid, broad-based futures unwind. pic.twitter.com/BtMTj0RV1v — glassnode (@glassnode) April 14, 2025 This anomaly can be understood only by examining the ELR formula: it goes up not just when OI goes up but also when exchange spot reserves go down. Here, we have leverage ratios shooting up even as OI is diving, and the only way to conceptually fit that together is to imagine that spot holdings on exchanges are being withdrawn or reduced. And if we take seriously the idea that a lot of people suddenly don’t want to hold XRP on an exchange anymore, that’s a pretty good reason for the price to go down. This conduct suggests that not only were traders closing out futures positions, but they were also withdrawing spot tokens from exchanges. The reasons for doing so could range from changing one’s mind and wanting to move to a secure environment, to the more benign reduction of risk and preparation for potential reallocation. Whatever the case, it seems fair to say that the pullback in exchange token balances occurred simultaneously with an increase in leverage (dare we say craziness?) among those remaining in the market. Post-Crash Speculation and Another Washout After the first collapse and sharp volatility, the Estimated Leverage Ratio kept rising, hitting about 0.37 at 08:00 UTC on April 14. This climb reflects that following the initial wave of liquidations, we had a fresh batch of high-leverage positions opened up, probably by traders trying to catch a rebound or make a play on the oversold conditions. This optimism, though, did not last long. Shortly after peaking, the ELR corrected sharply, which can only be explained as the effect of another wave of liquidations or position exits, as these high-risk, high-leverage positions were once again flushed out in a not-so-controlled sell-off. Once again in our recount of the 2022 events, this back-and-forth movement, which saw some traders getting cited for market manipulation, shows just how fragile things had become between the bear and bull camps, how easily shaken trader sentiment now was. For the entire day that covered the 24-hour period from May 19 to 20, 2021, the crypto market was reeling from a panic. On the 19th, Bitcoin’s price had tumbled downward to $30,000, and the price kept dropping in the 24-hour period until it reached $25,000 on May 20. This meant that the spot price, or the price at which an asset is bought or sold for immediate delivery, had dropped $5,000 in just 24 hours. The author of the article cited two important reasons for this rapid drop in price. The first reason was that traders using leverage had to close out their positions. What Comes Next? Opportunities and caution are typically the two main results of a volatile market, and the move we just experienced was certainly violent. While the $OM token has seen some stabilization since then, the events of April 13 make it clear that risk management is essential, especially when you’re dealing with high leverage. For traders and investors, keeping an eye on some of our key health metrics can give you an early-warning sense of whether things are unstable and may lead to liquidation cascades. The MANTRA ecosystem is developing all the time, and with it, the token has building presence in the futures market. Consequently, there are growing amounts of both liquidity and volatility in the token. We are reminded of this presence and its effects by the sell-off of April 13, which, in turn, reminds us of how quickly leveraged futures market positions can unwind. Disclosure: This is not trading or investment advice. Always do your research before buying any cryptocurrency or investing in any services. Follow us on Twitter @nulltxnews to stay updated with the latest Crypto, NFT, AI, Cybersecurity, Distributed Computing, and Metaverse news ! The Defiant

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Ethereum Faces Mixed Signals as Exchange Inflows Surge and Long-Term Whale Returns

Ethereum , the second-largest crypto by market capitalization, is currently sailing across a complex sea marked by conflicting signals both from on-chain data and from market sentiment. As of mid-April, over 368,000 ETH have been transferred to centralized exchanges, a substantial uptick that could suggest either an increase in selling pressure or an increase in the number of traders prepping for trades. Over 368,000 #Ethereum $ETH have been sent to exchanges since the start of the month! pic.twitter.com/nwnzxvHi9X — Ali (@ali_charts) April 15, 2025 Exchange inflows have risen sharply. Large amounts of ETH flowing to exchanges often indicates the conversely large amounts of ETH holders preparing to sell. ETH is currently on the edge of technical territory, both thy shall not and may cross (the downside implications for that being pretty clear), and is coming off a multi-week bounce off its previous high. Why are we questioning this flow? Because the ETH flow is certainly begging for answers, whether presently unclear or not. Support Levels, Sell-Offs, and Technical Indicators Currently, $1,546.55 is one of the most scrutinized price levels for Ethereum. This figure is a significant accumulation area, where on-chain data indicate about 822,440 ETH have been bought. In technical analysis lingo, this is often referred to as a critical support zone. If the price should happen to come back near this area, traders will be closely watching to see if it breaks down or bounces back in a strong way. The Sequential TD indicator, which is a favorite tool among crypto traders for spotting reversals in trend, has just recently flashed a buy signal on the weekly chart for Ethereum. This might seem counterintuitive. After all, Ethereum has been following Bitcoin downwards in recent weeks. But what if the price of Ethereum is actually about to stop falling and start reversing to the upside? Nevertheless, the market is facing some significant selling activity from one of Ethereum’s oldest and most renowned holders. A whale wallet related to the 2015 Ethereum Initial Coin Offering has reemerged, shifting and offloading a total of 612 ETH (about $1 million) within just a couple of days. In terms of the total amount of market liquidity Ethereum has, this is a relatively tiny sum and shouldn’t really impact the price. Still, the whale’s activity is noteworthy because it is historically significant, and, despite these recent transactions, the holder still has around 29,577 ETH, which is worth close to $48 million. The 2015 Ethereum ICO whale is back again — dumping 612 $ETH ($1M) after just 2 days. At a cost basis of just $0.31, this OG still holds 29,577 $ETH (~$47.98M). If the sell-off pace continues (630 $ETH every 2 days), it’ll take nearly 3 months to drain the rest. Source:… pic.twitter.com/0VymaIq2W3 — Followin (@followin_io) April 15, 2025 What’s more fascinating is the tempo: if this selling pace keeps up — roughly 630 ETH every couple of days — the whale’s stash would be entirely sold off in three months. Though it’s hard to see how this could have much of an effect on price directly, since no one would be likely to notice if some off-screen Ethereum whale were selling out, it does send a signal. And that may be what makes it the most interesting of all. In a sign of the ongoing bearish trend, Ethereum’s spot ETFs experienced a net outflow of $5.98 million on April 14 — the fifth straight day of net outflows. These withdrawals indicate a change in institutional sentiment and come as Bitcoin ETFs are still managing to attract modest inflows. The contrast in these two stories could suggest a more pronounced view forming among analysts and investors that Ethereum’s near-term prospects look especially shaky. On April 14, spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded a total net inflow of $1.4705 million. In contrast, spot Ethereum ETFs saw a total net outflow of $5.9781 million, marking the fifth consecutive day of net outflows. https://t.co/Hj2Gs49bWa — Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) April 15, 2025 A Crossroads for Ethereum At a crucial juncture, Ethereum is now inundated with big-time pressures from all sides. From one angle, the basic premise on which ETH is built is as strong as ever. There is still plenty of network development going on that ought to please long-term investors and users. The ongoing Layer 2 rollout is pushing scalability even further in the right direction, and ETH’s decent exposure to decentralized finance—still a key concept in any crypto bull case today—hasn’t changed much. But from another angle, several worrying trends have now surfaced in the context of cryptocurrency exchanges. Even so, if Ethereum manages to hold up above the $1,546 support, and if the TD Sequential signal turns out to be correct, then a rebound might be in the offing. Nonetheless, quite a few market participants are probably going to be rather cautious until ETF outflows stabilize and the long-term holder selling slowdown becomes a confirmed trend. The 2015 Ethereum ICO whale is back again — dumping 612 $ETH ($1M) after just 2 days. At a cost basis of just $0.31, this OG still holds 29,577 $ETH (~$47.98M). If the sell-off pace continues (630 $ETH every 2 days), it’ll take nearly 3 months to drain the rest. Source:… pic.twitter.com/0VymaIq2W3 — Followin (@followin_io) April 15, 2025 In the coming weeks, everyone will be watching to see if Ethereum can dismiss the bearish forces and reestablish an upward movement — or if it will instead move into a more severe correction, as the world of macroeconomics and specific pressures in the marketplace conspire against it. Either way, the next move could be a key one for Ethereum, helping to set its course through the second quarter of 2025. Disclosure: This is not trading or investment advice. Always do your research before buying any cryptocurrency or investing in any services. Follow us on Twitter @nulltxnews to stay updated with the latest Crypto, NFT, AI, Cybersecurity, Distributed Computing, and Metaverse news ! The Defiant