- Ethereum fell as low as $1,540 during the session, its weakest level since May 2025, adding to signs of weakening investor sentiment.
- Derivatives indicators turned bearish, including negative Ethereum futures funding rates, large-scale long liquidations, and a surge in downside hedging demand in the options market.
- Falling DeFi TVL, rising hack-related losses, and the Zcash (ZEC) network vulnerability have fueled concern that Ethereum could see further losses below $1,550 in the near term.
Forecast Trend Report by Period
Ethereum fell to its lowest level in 13 months, further dampening investor sentiment.
Cointelegraph reported on June 5 that Ethereum dropped as low as $1,540 during the session, its weakest level since May 2025. Selling pressure intensified as a broader downturn in digital assets coincided with hacking incidents in decentralized finance, or DeFi, and a vulnerability in the Zcash network.
Bearish signals are also emerging in derivatives markets. Data from Laevitas showed Ethereum futures funding rates turned negative, indicating rising demand for short positions. Ethereum long positions worth $1.28 billion have been liquidated over the past five days.
Options markets also reflected growing downside bets. On Deribit, the premium for put options over call options surged to 3.7 times, signaling a sharp increase in demand for downside hedges.
On-chain indicators have also worsened. According to DefiLlama, total value locked on the Ethereum network fell to its lowest level since February 2024. TVL at major DeFi protocols including Spark, Ether.fi, EigenCloud and KernelDAO has also dropped by nearly 40% to 50% recently.
Security concerns have added to the pressure. A critical vulnerability was recently discovered in Zcash’s zk-proof-based privacy pool that could allow unlimited token minting. The bug had existed since 2022 and was only recently identified through an AI model.
The discovery has raised fears that similar flaws may exist in other blockchains and smart contracts. DeFi hacks caused $630 million in losses in April, with the KelpDAO hack and the attack on Drift Protocol accounting for more than 80% of the total.
On-chain data also show the share of circulating Ethereum that remains in profit has fallen to about 30%. That is a level rarely seen since the Covid-19 market crash in 2020.
Cointelegraph said Ethereum could post further near-term losses below $1,550 if DeFi security concerns and broader risk aversion persist.
