From 07:00 to 07:15 UTC on June 5, 2026, ETH saw a rapid drop within 15 minutes, with a return of -1.12%. The price range was 1633.5 - 1658.16 USDT, with a swing of 1.49%. This period fell within the active early Asian trading session, when liquidity was relatively low, amplifying price volatility and clearly weighing on market sentiment.
The main driver behind this abnormal move was technical selling pressure triggered by the breakdown of a key technical support level. After ETH broke below the $2,000 psychological support level in early June 2026, the market’s technical structure underwent a fundamental change. Programmatic stop-loss sell orders were triggered in clusters, while trend traders relying on technical analysis reduced positions or opened short positions, creating a synchronized decline driven by both technical factors and algorithmic trading.
Second, increased leverage liquidation pressure intensified the selloff. Data shows that there were large concentrations of leveraged long positions in the $2,100-$2,150 range. As the price approached this area, longs faced margin top-up pressure or were forced to liquidate. Liquidation created market sell orders that further pushed the price down, forming a self-reinforcing liquidation waterfall. Liquidity contraction also magnified volatility: order book depth declined by 1.4% versus the 7-day average, meaning sell orders of the same size caused greater price impact.
In addition, persistently weak capital flows further reinforced the downtrend. ETH ETFs have continued to see net outflows of more than $500 million over the past month. Coinbase’s premium having a deeply negative value suggests that sell pressure from the US domestic market outweighs global buying interest. At the macro level, market capital rotated into technology stocks related to artificial intelligence, and stronger-than-expected inflation data may prolong restrictive monetary policy, leaving liquidity-sensitive assets under pressure across the board.
In the short term, $1,900-$1,950 remains the key support zone to watch. If it breaks, it could trigger a deeper pullback. On-chain “big whales” accumulated $2 billion in positions during May and may provide some buy support if prices fall further, but the market is currently highly unstable and volatility risks remain.
