Ethereum (ETH) tumbled below the $3,500 mark early Tuesday, shedding 5.9% over the past 24 hours as a wave of liquidations and macro headwinds rippled across the crypto market. The decline came as over $1.36 billion in leveraged positions were liquidated in the last 24 hours, according to Coinglass data, with $1.22 billion of that from long positions.
Macro Headwinds Add to Selling Pressure
The downturn followed Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s hawkish remarks on November 3, which dampened expectations for a rate cut in December. The stronger U.S. dollar triggered a sell-off across risk assets, dragging Bitcoin below $104,000 and Ethereum down to $3,496.
Investor sentiment has deteriorated sharply, with the Crypto Fear & Greed Index sliding to 27 (“Extreme Fear”), indicating widespread risk aversion. Ethereum’s 24-hour trading volume surged 63.7% to $55.7 billion, signaling accelerated exit activity rather than accumulation.
Analysts warn that a hotter-than-expected U.S. CPI report on November 7 could extend the losses, as inflation fears would further delay the Fed’s easing cycle and reduce liquidity inflows to digital assets.
DeFi Security Shocks Deepen Weakness
Ethereum’s DeFi sector faced a one-two punch this week. A $128 million exploit on Balancer and a $93 million loss at Stream Finance rattled investor confidence, highlighting ongoing vulnerabilities in decentralized finance infrastructure. Balancer’s total value locked (TVL) collapsed from $442 million to $214 million following the exploit.
The breaches renewed concerns about smart contract security and validator centralization, especially as developers scramble to deploy emergency patches. Berachain’s emergency hard fork to address related vulnerabilities is being closely watched as a potential model for other DeFi protocols facing similar risks.
Liquidation Cascade Accelerates Decline
The broader sell-off was amplified by a cascade of leveraged liquidations, hitting over 336,000 traders in 24 hours. The largest single liquidation occurred on HTX (BTC-USDT pair) worth $47.87 million. Ethereum long positions accounted for a major portion of the wipeout, forcing further downward momentum as traders were automatically liquidated at lower price levels.
Outlook
With market structure showing technical breakdowns and macro sentiment deteriorating, analysts expect continued volatility through mid-November. Ethereum now faces key support around $3,420, with resistance at $3,650.
Unless the upcoming CPI data signals easing inflation pressure, Ethereum may remain under sustained selling pressure, underscoring how quickly confidence can unravel when macro uncertainty, DeFi instability, and leveraged positioning collide.