Ethereum Price Holds Above $2,600 as Futures Activity Remains Dominant

The Ethereum price has held above the $2,600 zone, keeping $3,400 firmly in focus. The breakout above $2,600 has been maintained, and the next major target highlighted by the analysis is at $3,400. The setup is simple: $2,600 has been reclaimed, the breakout is intact for now, and the next major target sits at $3,400.

However, the on-chain numbers add a less comfortable detail. Ethereum's recovery has happened while Binance futures activity continues to dwarf spot trading. On June 27, ETH traded near $1,560, while the spot to futures volume ratio stood at 6.5%. By October 1, ETH had climbed to roughly $2,700, representing a gain of about 73% from late June. Yet the spot to futures ratio had only edged up to 8%.

According to analyst Amr Taha, this divergence is hard to ignore. Past volume ratios offer a complicated signal. The current 8% reading also looks modest compared with previous peaks. The ratio reached about 45% on April 13, 2026, before ETH later fell roughly 36%. It hit 114% on November 14, 2025, followed by a decline of about 45%. These numbers don't prove that higher spot volume causes price declines. They simply show that stronger spot activity relative to futures hasn't consistently translated into stronger subsequent performance.