Ethereum resumed its downward movement on Friday, May 22, after spending most of the week consolidating within a narrow range. The latest selloff pushed the second-largest cryptocurrency down roughly 6.2%, briefly driving ETH toward a local low near $2,020.
Despite the bearish price action, recent on-chain data suggests that Ethereum’s weakness may not actually be caused by a lack of buyer interest in the spot market.
According to a new analysis published on CryptoQuant by on-chain analyst Carmelo Alemán, Ethereum continues to show notable spot buying activity even as the price trend remains under pressure.
Spot Buyers Continue Accumulating ETH
Alemán explained that Ethereum’s Spot Taker Cumulative Volume Delta (CVD) still shows the market as “Taker Buy Dominant.” In simple terms, aggressive buyers are continuing to execute more market buy orders than sellers are executing sell orders.
Under normal market conditions, this type of buying pressure would typically help support upward price momentum.
However, Ethereum has failed to respond positively.
While the Spot Taker CVD remained bullish, ETH’s price still declined from approximately $2,339 on May 11 to around $2,065 by May 22.
One major reason may be the sharp decline in overall trading activity.
Spot trading volume reportedly dropped from roughly 470,770 ETH to 256,963 ETH during the same period — representing a decline of more than 45%.
In dollar terms, spot trading activity fell from nearly $1.10 billion to approximately $521 million, highlighting weakening market participation despite continued buying interest.
Derivatives Market Still Lacks Strong Conviction
The analysis also pointed to mixed signals coming from Ethereum’s derivatives market.
According to Alemán, Open Interest has remained relatively flat, moving only slightly from $15.43 billion to $15.54 billion — an increase of just 0.69%.
This suggests that traders are not aggressively opening new positions despite the ongoing volatility.
At the same time, Futures CVD still indicates a dominance of long positions, meaning many traders continue betting on a potential rebound in Ethereum’s price.
Funding Rates have also stayed positive since May 11, showing that long traders are still paying short traders to maintain bullish positions in the futures market.
Meanwhile, Ethereum’s cumulative Exchange Netflow remained negative at around -80,507 ETH.
A negative exchange netflow generally means more ETH is being withdrawn from exchanges than deposited, which is often viewed as a bullish signal because investors typically move coins off exchanges for long-term holding rather than immediate selling.
Yet despite these supportive on-chain indicators, Ethereum has continued trending lower.
Why Ethereum Price Remains Under Pressure
According to Alemán, the market may currently be facing an imbalance where available selling supply continues outweighing existing demand.
As a result, the bullish pressure coming from both spot and futures markets is being absorbed rather than translating into upward momentum.
The analyst believes Ethereum may remain under bearish pressure unless several conditions improve simultaneously:
- Spot trading volume needs to recover
- ETH must break through key resistance levels
- Derivatives activity needs to show stronger expansion and conviction
Until then, downside risks could remain dominant in the short term.
Alemán warned that Ethereum may soon retest support near $1,984. If that level fails to hold, the next major support area could emerge closer to $1,937.
