Ethereum Liquidation Skew: $15.5M Shorts Lost in Four Hours
Ethereum derivatives are flashing a clear liquidation skew: $15.5M of shorts were forced out in the last four hours, compared with only $0.4M of longs, while total open interest reached $26.9B after rising 2.0% over 24 hours. The setup points to upside pressure hurting late shorts, but the positioning underneath is not uniformly bullish.
The wider news flow is split between longer-term narratives about Ethereum’s evolution and broader market coverage of the asset’s current price action.
Open interest is expanding across key venues
The exchange distribution shows that the squeeze is being supported by fresh leverage rather than a broad reduction in exposure. Binance remains the largest venue at $6.3B of open interest, representing 23.4% of the tracked total and rising 4.0% over 24 hours. Bybit holds $2.2B, or 8.3%, after a 5.6% increase, while Bitget carries $2.1B, or 7.9%, with a smaller 0.7% gain.
Gate is another important part of the skew at $2.3B and 8.6% of total open interest. Its daily exposure fell 2.8%, even though its four-hour change was up 8.4%. That contrast matters: near-term leverage is rebuilding at Gate while its broader daily base is still lighter. OKX, at $1.6B and 6.1% share, added only 0.7% over 24 hours but climbed 6.0% over four hours. Across the major venues, the faster changes are concentrated in the shorter window, consistent with a market repricing around the move rather than calmly accumulating exposure.
Liquidations favor the upside squeeze
The liquidation structure is heavily asymmetric in the recent windows. In one hour, short liquidations reached $8.4M against $1,351.67 of longs. Over four hours, shorts accounted for $15.5M while longs contributed $0.4M. The 12-hour view remains short-heavy at $16.2M of shorts versus $9.7M of longs, although the 24-hour total is less one-sided: $49.6M of shorts compared with $37.6M of longs.
The largest recorded events show why price levels matter. A Binance long liquidation worth $11.7M occurred at $2,634.46, while an HTX short liquidation worth $5.1M printed at $2,722.02. Other notable forced exits include a $2.7M Binance long at $2,667.54, a $1.3M OKX short at $2,697.46, and a $1.3M OKX long at $2,660.88. The recent short squeeze is therefore pressing into a documented liquidation area near $2,722.02, while the $2,634.46 zone remains the clearest downside stress marker.
Accounts lean long, but takers disagree
The positioning split is the main warning against treating the liquidation data as a clean bullish signal. The overall account long share is 62.0%, while the long/short ratio based on active takers is only 44.3% long. Binance shows the sharpest divergence: 70.5% of accounts are long, but taker flow is 35.4% long and 64.6% short. Bybit accounts are 67.1% long, and Bitget accounts are 67.2% long, reinforcing the crowded-account side of the trade.
Gate provides the opposite active-flow signal. Its accounts are 48.9% long and 51.2% short, yet takers are 79.4% long. OKX is more balanced, with accounts at 52.6% long and takers at 51.1% long. Funding also varies: Binance, Bybit and Bitget each show 0.010%, while OKX is at 0.006% and Gate at 0.006%. CoinEx is a sharp outlier at -0.070%, though its open interest is only $4.3M, making it less influential than the larger venues.
Verdict: ETH has an upside liquidation-squeeze bias while price holds above $2,697.46 and open interest remains near or above $26.9B, with $2,722.02 as the immediate pressure point and $2,634.46 as the key downside liquidation level. That view is invalidated if price cannot hold above $2,697.46 while open interest falls below $26.9B and short liquidations stop dominating the recent windows. Data as of 16:05 Beijing time on Sep 29, covering Binance, OKX, Bybit and other major venues.