Ethereum (ETH) News Today: Why ETH Is Down – 31 October 2026

Ethereum news today is dominated by the security breach at Binance, which began on 29 October and drew the network into one of the largest thefts in crypto history. ETH traded at $2,244.06 at the time of the snapshot, down 0.36% over 24 hours.

Binance Hack Drains Funds Across Chains

The incident started around 4:20 p.m. ET on 29 October, when funds began leaving Binance hot wallets on multiple blockchains. Chainalysis puts the total at about $6.4 billion, which would make it the largest theft in crypto history. Chainalysis attributes the theft to TraderTraitor, a North Korean group, and says the stolen funds were commingled with proceeds from last month's Bitget theft.

Binance has pledged to cover all losses and said about $3 billion had been frozen by Friday. Tether froze 975.1 million USDT, and Circle froze 823 million USDC in the main receiving wallet, about $1.8 billion combined. The FBI said it was aware of the incident and was coordinating with partners.

How EIP-7702 Enabled the Drain

CoinDesk's on-chain reconstruction shows the attacker used EIP-7702, a feature introduced with the Pectra upgrade in May 2025 that allows ordinary wallets to run smart-contract code. A Binance wallet labeled "Binance 14" signed 50 authorizations for consecutive nonces. The network accepted one at 20:20:59 UTC on 29 October. Three minutes later, at 20:24:23 UTC, the attacker moved about 167,464 ETH and 63 tokens, including roughly 1.6 billion USDT.

The malicious delegation stayed active for nearly four hours until the wallet revoked it at 00:10:35 UTC on 30 October. Investigators have not yet explained how the attacker obtained the signatures, and Binance says it found no evidence of leaked private keys. On Arbitrum, the Security Council moved 8,425 ETH and 74,559,805 ARB from an address linked to the exploit into a frozen intermediary wallet.

ETF Outflows Extend Losing Streak

Spot Ethereum ETFs recorded their fourth straight day of net outflows on 29 October, according to SoSoValue data. BlackRock's ETHA led the decline with a $71.68 million outflow, while Fidelity's FETH posted the largest inflow at $2.90 million. Bitcoin ETFs, by contrast, recorded inflows of $17.07 million that day.

Cumulative October outflows were about $1.35 billion through 28 October, according to SoSoValue.

Weakness Predates the Binance Incident

Ethereum was on track for its weakest October since 2018, down 13.6% for the month as of 29 October. On-chain data shows old wallets moved more than 56,000 ETH between 5 and 29 October, often to Coinbase or Kraken. A wallet linked to the Ethereum Foundation also sold about $17.8 million of ETH.

Macro pressure added to the decline. The US Federal Reserve held rates on 28 October, and a hawkish tone and firmer PCE inflation data reinforced expectations of a December rate hike. The Coinbase Premium Index remained negative.

Ethereum News Today: Glamsterdam Testnet Delayed

The Glamsterdam upgrade's Hoodi testnet activation, scheduled for 26 October, was postponed during the 22 October All Core Devs call. The delay followed security concerns raised by ChainSecurity about gas-pricing proposals EIP-8037 and EIP-8038. Ethereum.org lists mainnet as expected in Q4 2026, but no date has been confirmed.

Developers merged a fix on 27 October for a separate validator deposit-handling flaw. On 30 October, LambdaClass released ethlambda v1.0.0, a beacon chain client that supports both Fusaka and Glamsterdam.

Ethereum (ETH) is down today because a security incident at Binance, persistent outflows from US spot Ether ETFs and a hawkish Federal Reserve hold added pressure to a market already in a downtrend. Ethereum price today stands at $2,244.06, down 0.36% over 24 hours, with a market capitalization of $274.17B (rank #2) and $28.04B in 24-hour trading volume. The price is 54.63% below the all-time high of $4,946.05.

Binance security incident

Binance hot wallets began draining on-chain on 29 October. CNBC reported a $6.3 billion hack that rattled digital asset markets, while CryptoSlate cited an unreconciled total near $2.8 billion across five chains, so the full scale remains unconfirmed. Whale Alert recorded 28,005 ETH ($64.9M) leaving a Binance-labeled wallet. Binance executive Richard Teng has said plans are underway to reinstate withdrawal services.

ETF outflows

US spot Ether ETFs lost $105.5M on 29 October, the largest one-day outflow since 22 October. BlackRock's ETHA accounted for $71.7M of that total. On the same day, Bitcoin ETFs gained $17.07M, a divergence that points to investors rotating away from Ethereum specifically. Ether funds recorded outflows on 18 of 21 trading days in October.

Whale and exchange activity

Analyst commentary reported that large holders cut about 160,000 ETH while exchange-held ETH rose by 100,000 ETH, a pattern consistent with selling pressure. Wallets linked to the Ethereum Foundation moved about 14,770 ETH on three separate days, though the Foundation has not confirmed the link. Deep Blue Alpha data shows whale flows turning positive since 30 October, a secondary signal that runs against the selling narrative.

Leverage and liquidations

The broader selloff triggered about $1.5B in liquidations across crypto markets over 24 hours, with long positions making up roughly 84% of forced closures. On Binance, ETH open interest stands at $28.12B, down 6.14% over the two-day window, which indicates longs closing positions rather than new shorts opening. Funding is slightly negative at -0.0073% per eight hours, and 74.5% of Binance ETHUSDT accounts are long, so crowd positioning has not yet been flushed.

Macro backdrop

The Federal Reserve held rates at 3.75%-4% on 28 October. Strong US GDP growth of 3.4% annualized and inflation commentary offered few signs of imminent easing, and the decision was read as hawkish. A technology-stock selloff and elevated oil prices tied to Middle East and Russia-Ukraine tensions added to risk-off sentiment. The Fear & Greed Index read 29 (Fear) on 30 October.

Technical levels and comparisons

ETH closed 29 October near $2,249, its first close below $2,300 since August. Analysts cite $2,200 as the key support, and a weekly close below it could bring $2,000 into focus. Resistance sits between $2,315 and $2,360. Benzinga reported a head-and-shoulders pattern forming. Against peers, Bitcoin fell 0.89% over the same day, while BNB rose 0.98%, XRP gained 1.65% and SOL gained 0.75%, leaving Ethereum lagging the day's stronger performers.

Ethereum market sentiment is bearish as of 31 October 2026. Market-wide fear, net institutional selling and a crowded long bias among retail traders define the current mood, although some bullish voices remain on social media.

Broad Mood and Institutional Flows

The Fear & Greed Index read 29 (Fear) on 30 October, down 22 points over seven days. Its 30-day average was 59 (Greed). The index is built on Bitcoin price data, so it measures overall crypto mood rather than Ethereum-specific sentiment. The shift followed a 4.62% weekly decline in BTC.

Spot ETH ETF flows were negative across every window: -$56.30M on 30 October, -$438.20M over seven days and -$863.30M over 30 days. Reported October outflows reached about $1.45B through 29 October, the largest monthly outflow since launch. BlackRock's ETHA led the exits on 27 October with $93.3M withdrawn.

Trader Positioning

Open interest stood at $28.11B, down 16.86% over 30 days from a high of $35.32B and just above its 30-day low of $28.00B. Falling open interest alongside weaker prices suggests longs are closing positions rather than shorts opening new ones.

Binance long/short data showed 74.5% of accounts long and 25.6% short, a ratio of 2.91. Retail positioning did not follow the institutional shift, with long dominance holding near its 30-day average of 74.9%. Under contrarian frameworks, a crowd this lopsided is a bearish warning sign. Funding was -0.0073% per day, which is neutral and signals no extreme leverage on either side.

Social Media and Community Tone

On X, sentiment leaned cautiously bearish over 24 to 31 October, with most discussion concentrated on 29 to 31 October and low engagement per post. Bearish technical calls were the most repeated theme. The account @Finora_EN posted lower-timeframe analyses expecting liquidity probes below current levels, invalidated by a close above roughly $2,378 to $2,391.

Bullish counter-views were fewer. @tradervaib argued that consolidation under range lows set up an upside break, stating "I am bullish on ETH." The sample is small and dominated by one AI trading account, so it does not represent the wider community.

Whale Activity and Recent Shifts

Whale behaviour is mixed. @bootzz pointed to Bitfinex whale holdings at four-year highs, while @willx_eth noted that two large wallets, roughly $20 million underwater, faced liquidation risk if prices fell further. Santiment reported a net 169,770 ETH leaving centralised exchanges in one day, the largest withdrawal in more than four months.

Over the past week, the Fear & Greed Index moved into Fear, open interest contracted and ETF outflows accumulated. A reported $6.3B hack at Binance on 29 October triggered a broad risk-off move, and Binance has said it will cover losses. Reported liquidations reached $1.55B across crypto markets, with $1.34B from longs. A hawkish Federal Reserve tone also weighed on risk assets, and staking-yield competition, a delayed Glamsterdam upgrade and ETF redemptions were cited as drivers.

Ethereum support and resistance levels sit between roughly $2,158 and $2,300 on the downside and $2,355 to $2,450 overhead, with ETH trading at $2,244.06 inside the lower band. The levels below come from technical analyses published between 28 and 30 October 2026, so they frame the structure rather than serve as live quotes.

Key support levels

• $2,228: First daily support in Coinotag's 30 October model.
• $2,200 to $2,233: Support zone cited by CoinMarketCap AI, which noted a recent swing low near $2,233.
• $2,174: The 24-hour low on 30 October, per Coinotag.
• $2,158 to $2,160: The 200-day simple moving average, cited by Coinlore, Blockspot and 360TradingView.
• $2,000: The downside target in a market analyst's warning reported by Digital Today.

Key resistance levels

• $2,290 to $2,300: Former support that broke on 29 October and now caps rallies.
• $2,355 to $2,360: Horizontal resistance and the 100-day exponential moving average, per FXStreet.
• $2,400 to $2,411: The rejection zone from 28 October, with $2,411 noted as a horizontal level by FXStreet.
• $2,443 to $2,450: A cluster of the 20-day and 50-day exponential moving averages.
• $2,530 to $2,536: The 50-day simple moving average.

Indicators

On the daily chart, RSI (14) readings diverge by source: 29.8 per Coinotag, 30.3 per CoinDataFlow and 43.1 per Investing.com. CoinMarketCap AI reported an RSI (7) of 23.16, which is in oversold territory. Coinotag shows MACD (12, 26) at -57.42 against a signal line of -51.70, with a histogram of -5.72. Most sources place MACD below its signal line.

Price sits below the 20-day and 50-day exponential moving averages and the 50-day simple moving average. It remains above the rising 200-day simple moving average, which sits near $2,158.

Chart patterns

On the daily chart, a head-and-shoulders breakdown below a $2,350 neckline was reported on 26 October by Namecoin News. CryptoRank describes a broken ascending channel with lower highs. Blockchain.News reports that price has been hugging the lower Bollinger Band. An inverse head-and-shoulders pattern on the 3-day chart, flagged in a single analyst's post, remains unconfirmed.

Volume and positioning

Reference 24-hour volume is $28.04B. Other aggregators report figures from $6.73B to $17.00B, so absolute volume varies by methodology, and the trend is more informative than any single figure. Binance taker sell volume exceeded buy volume by roughly 37% on 29 October, per Blockchain.News. U.S. spot ETH ETFs recorded $21.41M in net outflows on 28 October, their third straight session of withdrawals, per Crypto.news.

Derivatives data show open interest of $28.12B, down 16.07% over 30 days and close to the bottom of its monthly range. The funding rate is -0.0073% per eight hours, so shorts are paying longs at the margin. Binance long positioning stands at 74.45%. The market-wide Fear & Greed Index fell to 29 on 30 October, down 22 points over seven days.

Short-term and medium-term outlook

On shorter timeframes, the bias is bearish with oversold momentum. CoinMarketCap AI noted that holding $2,200 to $2,233 could allow a relief bounce toward $2,300. A daily close below $2,158 would expose the $2,000 level.

On the weekly timeframe, price is below the 50-day and 200-day moving averages in several sources. A reclaim of $2,400 to $2,450 would be needed to shift the medium-term structure. Coinlore's weekly rating was SELL as of 18 October. Ethereum's all-time high of $4,946.05 lies far above current prices, and the current price is 54.63% below it.