According to CryptoQuant analyst Darkfost, Ethereum has seen the most buy-side pressure on derivatives markets since the 2022 bear market, which could be significant after months of sustained sell-side dominance in this cycle. The change in itself does not confirm a complete reversal of the trend. However, this marks a noticeable break in a pattern that has weighed on ETH during its key growth attempts.
Ethereum flashes early recovery signal
In post shared on He pointed to net receiver volume, a measure of the imbalance between buy and sell orders on derivatives exchanges, which he said “remained almost consistently negative” throughout the period.
This pressure was especially perceptible during ETH’s attempts to enter higher price territory. Darkfost wrote: “This was especially evident when ETH attempted to break into a new all-time high above $4,000 in December 2024. At that time, net recipient volume dropped to -$511 million. It became even more extreme when ETH later printed its all-time high just below $5,000 as selling pressure strongly dominated with net recipient volume of -$568 million.”
According to Darkfost, even as ETH approached local highs, aggressive derivatives sellers still prevailed among the buyers. This helps explain why growth momentum has struggled to translate into a cleaner breakout environment. Powerful spot narratives or bullish sentiment alone were not enough if the derivatives sophisticated continued to tilt the other way.
He believes this active has now begun to change. “Since March, buy-side volumes have finally taken control and today recorded +$102 million,” Darkfost wrote. “The last time Ethereum saw such strong levels of buying pressure in derivatives markets was during the previous bear market in 2022, when ETH was trading around $1,000.”
The comparison with 2022 is noteworthy because it presents current traffic less as routine positioning noise and more as an infrequent change in flow regime. On the chart, green bars of positive net customer volume have reappeared after a long period of red negative readings dominating. For traders watching ETH’s structure, this is essential because the continued positive flow of bidders suggests that buyers are increasingly willing to raise bids rather than passively wait for lower prices.
Despite this, Darkfost refrained from announcing a confirmed turnaround. His argument is conditional. “If this trend continues and buyers continue to absorb selling pressure, this could signal the early stages of a stronger structural recovery for Ethereum,” he wrote. This caveat is crucial to this thesis: one powerful reading does not erase the negative pressure value of a cycle, but persistence does.
At the time of publication, the price of ETH was $2,288.
Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com
