A significant shift rippled through the crypto market on Tuesday. Ethereum (ETH) prices suddenly jumped, hitting a level not seen in years. This swift move caused problems for traders betting on a price drop.
Ethereum, the second largest cryptocurrency, reached $4,400. This price point was last observed in November 2021. The surge happened early Tuesday, showing a gain of over 5% for the day. Data from CoinGecko confirmed this rapid rise. The last time ETH was this high was during the previous bull market almost four years ago. Ether hit an all-time high near $5,000 back then but has not returned to that peak since.
This sudden price jump triggered a wave of liquidations for ETH short positions. Bearish bets worth nearly $40 million were wiped out in just 60 minutes. Coinglass data showed this quick change. In the past 24 hours, Ether has seen over $140 million in liquidations. Of this amount, $87.5 million came from leveraged bearish positions.
This bullish action was part of a wider market gain. It followed the latest inflation report from the United States. A July Consumer Price Index (CPI) reading came in softer than expected. This news fueled cryptocurrency prices. Bitcoin also rose, moving back above $119,000. ETH, however, led the charge in gains.
Institutions Powering ETH’s Climb
Ethereum has shown strong upward momentum in recent weeks. This comes with renewed confidence from big institutional investors. Corporations have quickly moved this year to build strategic Ethereum reserves. This fits a broader trend of public companies adding cryptocurrencies to their main treasury assets.
Data from Strategic ETH Reserve shows a clear picture. More than 70 entities collectively hold 3.5 million ETH. This values their current Ethereum treasuries at almost $16 billion.
Record inflows into US spot Ethereum Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) clearly show strong institutional appetite. These ETFs have seen money flowing in without interruption for the past 14 weeks. They have attracted billions of dollars. Just yesterday, Ethereum ETFs hit a new daily record. They saw over $1 billion in inflows for the first time ever.
ETH has gained more than 30% so far this year. This makes it outperform Bitcoin in annual returns, according to TradingView data. The second-largest cryptocurrency has risen just over 50% in the last month. It is also up 21% this week. Its price at the time of this writing is $4,417. That is nearly 10% below its 2021 all-time high.