Ethereum Price Stays Strong Despite 91% Leverage Drop

The Ethereum (ETH) price has remained steady near $2,500 despite a sharp drop in combined leverage on Binance and Bybit. Between August 22 and August 30, leverage fell by 90.9%, from $1.12 billion to just $102 million.

This shift suggests that the current rally is no longer dependent on borrowed money but rather on real buying activity. Traders piled into leveraged positions as ETH approached $2,500 between August 15 and August 22, with combined open interest growing by $1.12 billion in a single week.

However, this trend reversed quickly, with Binance's open interest dropping from $843 million to $94 million, while Bybit fell even harder from $277 million to just $8 million.

The pullback was largely offset by inflows into spot Ethereum ETFs. U.S.-based funds have seen inflows every session since August 15, with a total of around $1.5 billion combined over the past 10 days.

BlackRock's ETHA fund accounted for roughly 71.9% of this influx, pulling in about $1.02 billion and creating direct demand in the spot market without adding risk through futures contracts.