Ethereum open interest (OI) had seen a meteoric rise in the weeks leading up to the Ethereum Merge. Even after the Merge, the open interest has not declined, given all of the new interest from institutional investors following the network’s move to a proof of work mechanism. This time around, the Ethereum open interest has hit another important high point, which points to a possible rally in the price of ETH. Open Interest Reaches $7.7 Billion Ethereum open interest still remains high despite ETH’s decline to the low $1,000s back in September. Data shows that the open interest in ETH has reached $7.7 billion this week despite traders often choosing to avoid trades at quarterly closes, even in the crypto market. Related Reading: Brace For Impact: This Expert Trader Says Cardano (ADA) Will See A 50% Decline This means that there is now $7.7 billion in futures open interest, but the majority of these have actually skewed towards the bearish side. Not surprisingly, given that the crypto market is barely a year into its bear market, investors expect more decline to follow. ETH steadies above $1,300 | Source: ETHUSD on TradingView.com Investor sentiment also took a hit since mid-September when the long-awaited Merge upgrade failed to trigger a rally in the price of ETH. The subsequent decline had seen investors begin profit-taking to prevent more losses while watching the market closely. The same is now being seen across the fu...