Ethereum investors must consider this ‘catch’ before going short on ETH

• ETH’s press time market structure stood hounded by the bears
• Immense selling pressure could push funding rates further into the negative territory  

Ethereum [ETH] broke through several support levels and plunged even lower as FUD spread around the alleged FTX exploiter dumping ETH for BTC. The alleged FTX exploiter sold 50,000 ETH for BTC over the weekend, knocking ETH off the $1,200 mark.

Read Ethereum’s [ETH] price prediction 2023-2024

At press time, ETH, the altcoin king, was trading at $1,081, having lost the psychological limits of $1,200 and $1,100. Furthermore, if FUD continues to reign in the short term, ETH will see a deep plunge toward the $980 mark.

Post-bearish breakout; when will bulls take control?

Source: TradingView

ETH lost grip on the $1,200 on 20 November following a massive dump. ETH has since breached $1,100 and seemed determined to continue lower as bearish sentiment increased.  

From a technical perspective, the Relative Strength Index (RSI) was at 26, in oversold territory. This indicated strong selling pressure with the bears in a stronger position.  

The On-Balance Volume (OBV) also supported the strong bearish structure. The OBV has been making lower and lower lows since 8 November. Furthermore, over the past 10 days, the price action formed a bearish triangle that has since broken out to the downside.  

The next possible support can be obtained by calculating the triangle’s height and placing it in the breakout position. According to this, the next likely support was at around $980. Therefore, ETH could fall to $980 in the next few hours or the next day or two.  

However, a candlestick close above the current resistance at the 23.6% Fib retracement ($1,217) could invalidate this bearish bias. A retest of this level could turn the structure bullish, with the 38.2% Fib retracement level as the next resistance target.

Mounting selling pressure throws ETH funding rates into negative territory

Source: Santiment

After analyzing data from Santiment, it could be seen that the bearish sentiment in the spot market made its way to the derivatives markets. Increasing selling pressure attracted more active addresses in the past 24 hours, indicating a likely downward trend for ETH prices.

Accordingly, the Binance funding rate for the ETH/USDT pair fell into negative territory. This showed the prominence of the bearish sentiment in the ETH derivatives market.

Therefore, we could expect ETH to lose the $1,000 level in the short term. However, if BTC breaks through the $16,000 resistance and moves north, ETH could follow suit. However, ETH’s northward movement faces significant resistance.