A whale wallet has built a $50.55 million, 25-times leveraged short position in ether, heightening market tension as ether trades near levels that would pressure the bet. The wallet also holds a leveraged bitcoin long position. Other large holders have increased ether longs, while another wallet linked to World Liberty Financial sold ether for USD coin. Addresses tied to a possible fund deposited ether to Binance, adding to selling pressure. Attention is on whether ether holds $2,200.

Bitcoin is bringing the $85,000 area into focus as the next major resistance level after moving above two key on-chain indicators at the same time. It has climbed from about $63,000 to above $80,000 over the past three months, with on-chain, futures and options signals pointing in the same direction. Futures market downside pressure has eased as funding rates turn neutral to slightly positive. Options positioning also leans bullish, while bitcoin remains closely linked to U.S. tech stocks.