Ethereum is attempting to stabilize around the $2,000 level as the broader crypto market shows tentative signs of relief. After weeks of persistent pressure, price action has paused its decline, but sentiment remains fragile. The recent rebound has helped ease immediate downside momentum, yet the technical structure still reflects a market recovering from significant damage rather than entering a confirmed uptrend.
According to a CryptoQuant analyst, Ethereum endured a severe liquidation-driven sell-off in recent weeks, falling sharply from local highs near $3,300 to lows around the $1,850 region. The intensity of this move becomes particularly evident when analyzing the Net Taker Volume (30-day moving average), a metric that measures aggressive market order activity. In February, this indicator plunged to its most negative level since last November, highlighting the dominance of aggressive sellers during the decline.
Such extreme negative readings typically reflect panic-driven execution rather than orderly repositioning. When taker volume skews heavily to the sell side, it often signals forced exits, stop-outs, and cascading liquidations across derivatives markets. While Ethereum’s attempt to hold $2,000 suggests that immediate selling pressure may be easing, the underlying data confirms that the market recently absorbed one of its most intense bouts of downside aggression in months.
Net Taker Volume Signals Capitulation — But Not Confirmation
The dominance of towering red bars in Ethereum’s Net Taker Volume underscores how aggressively sellers controlled the order books during the recent decline. When taker sell orders consistently exceed taker buy orders by such a magnitude, it reflects urgency. This is not passive distribution; it is market participants hitting bids aggressively, often under stress. The combination of panic-driven exits, systematic short positioning, and forced long liquidations likely amplified the move from $3,300 to sub-$1,900 levels.
Notably, the only meaningful cluster of green bars — representing aggressive buying — emerged in mid-January, coinciding with Ethereum’s local peak near $3,400. That brief resurgence in demand failed to sustain itself, after which sell-side momentum reasserted control. Structurally, this pattern suggests that upside liquidity was e
