Ethereum's contract trading volume hit a record high this year, but excessive leverage speculation led to a price drop below expectations.

[Ethereum Futures Trading Volume Hits Record High This Year; Excessive Leverage and Speculation Lead to Lower-than-Expected Price] According to CryptoQuant analyst Darkfost, Ethereum futures trading volume this year far exceeds previous years. Taking Binance as an example, Ethereum futures trading volume exceeded $6.74 trillion over the past year, almost double that of 2024, which already set a record. Therefore, Ethereum can be considered one of the most traded assets in the global derivatives market in 2025, highlighting the strong speculative demand. Over the past year, the spot-to-futures ratio was approximately 0.2, meaning that for every $1 invested in ETH on the Binance spot market, nearly $5 was invested in futures contracts. This ratio is characteristic of a highly leveraged market, reflecting extreme speculation on Ethereum in 2025. The record trading volume coupled with such an unbalanced ratio indicates that futures largely determine Ethereum's price movement. As a result, Ethereum's price volatility this year has been amplified, disorderly, and highly dependent on liquidations, ultimately leading to it reaching an all-time high by a mere few dollars.