Ethereum (ETH) isn’t just climbing price-wise; its also positioning itself as the centerpiece of a massive derivatives play, with data from CoinGlass showing ETH futures open interest (OI) has surged to a historic high, going past $41 billion.

This milestone coincided with Ethereum breaking key resistance levels and significantly outpacing Bitcoin (BTC) in derivatives trading volume.

Derivatives Data Tells a Compelling Story

According to CoinGlass, in the last 24 hours, ETH futures OI jumped 6.14% to $41.66 billion, building on a steady upward trend that kicked off in early May when the metric stood at just over $21 billion. Previous highs were recorded at $37.66 billion on June 10 and $35.87 billion on June 3.

The latest uptick isn’t isolated either. In the last 24 hours, ETH derivatives volume skyrocketed almost 33% to $109.28 billion, surpassing BTC’s $77.22 billion in the same period.

Binance dominated the landscape, commanding $7.59 billion in ETH OI and $27.88 billion in volume. It was followed by Gate, boasting $5.71 billion worth of OI, with Bitget and Bybit holding $4.33 billion and $3.90 billion, respectively.

Notably, the long/short account ratio on Binance stood at 1.20, indicating bullish sentiment, while top traders were aggressively long with a position ratio exceeding 3.0.

However, the heightened leverage also introduced volatility. Over the past day, $124.5 million in ETH positions were liquidated, $77.6 million in shorts, and $46.9 million in longs, highlighting the risk that accompanies this aggressive trading activity.

Price Action Mirrors the Leveraged Bets

The development comes against a backdrop of strong price appreciation for the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap. As reported previously by CryptoPotato, the asset briefly peaked at $2,822 on June 11, marking a 15-week high. It also signified a crucial breakout above the stubborn $2,700 resistance level that had capped gains for weeks, setting the stage for a run toward the psychological $3,500 barrier.

At the time of this writing, ETH was trading at around $2,766, a 4.7% rise across the last seven days, just edging out the broader crypto market’s 4.5% jump in the same time frame.

The altcoin’s momentum is backed by more than just hype. Market watchers have cited key catalysts such as Vitalik Buterin’s recently unveiled scaling roadmap and regulatory clarity on staking and decentralized finance (DeFi) from the SEC for being behind ETH’s improved performance.