Ethereum posts 16% October loss as ETF outflows reach record $1.61B

Ethereum price today: ETH trades at $2,250

• A 16% October fall in Ethereum followed $1.61 billion in ETH ETF outflows, marking the funds' weakest month since launch.
• The continuing bull market explains ETH's muted response to the Binance hack, according to BitMine's Thomas Lee.
• The $2,204-$2,256 support zone is being tested by ETH.

Holding just above $2,200 on Monday, Ethereum (ETH) faces the aftermath of last week's Binance hack and record October withdrawals from US spot ETH exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

Why did ETH ETFs suffer their weakest month since launch?

A three-month run of gains ended for Ethereum in October, with Coinglass data showing a 16.06% fall. For the leading altcoin, the monthly loss also made this the third consecutive October with a negative return.

US spot ETH ETFs registered $1.61 billion in withdrawals during the month, their largest monthly outflow since their July 2024 launch, according to SoSoValue data. The price decline followed these withdrawals. October brought only three days of modest inflows for the funds, while Bitcoin (BTC) ETFs recorded net outflows of $515 million over the same month.

Alongside the fund withdrawals, the $6.3 billion Binance exploit carried out by North Korean hackers last Thursday weighed on ETH's performance last month. The incident briefly sent the price below $2,200 and triggered futures liquidations exceeding $400 million.

Why does BitMine's Tom Lee credit the bull market for ETH's muted response to the Binance hack?

Despite the hack, ETH has shown resilience, according to Thomas Lee, Chairman of crypto treasury firm BitMine Immersion Technologies (BMNR).

"While this is a terrible development, in my view, the relatively muted crypto market reaction is very constructive, particularly compared to the market's response to prior sizable crypto thefts," Lee said in a Monday statement.

As a comparison, he pointed to the February 2025 cyberattack on ByBit, in which DPRK stole $1.5 billion in user funds. ETH lost 8% on the announcement day and 20% within a week, he noted.

"By contrast, since the Binance theft was disclosed, ETH went down 4%. We believe this is a far more muted market reaction despite the size of the theft being approximately quadruple the size," Lee added.

Among the factors he offered for the contained decline were Binance's substantial reserve to absorb losses, swift industry efforts to freeze assets and the continuing "bull market." He also pointed to the absence of the DeFi cascade that followed the Bybit theft.

With the purchase of 8,537 ETH last week, BitMine increased its holdings to 6.06 million ETH. The company is now approximately 50K ETH short of its target of owning 5% of Ethereum's circulating supply.

Ethereum technical outlook: Can ETH defend support at $2,204-$2,256?

ETH's near-term outlook remains bearish on the daily chart, with the price below its 20-, 50-, and 100-day Exponential Moving Averages (EMAs), at $2,359, $2,415, and $2,346, respectively. Trading close to the $2,256 horizontal pivot points to fragile consolidation following the recent decline. Meanwhile, the 14-day Relative Strength Index (RSI) at around 33 and the Stochastic Oscillator (Stoch) near 23 are still in bearish territory. Although both have recovered modestly from oversold conditions, the readings indicate that downside pressure continues to dominate.

The first upside resistance zone spans the 100- and 20-day EMAs and the horizontal barrier at $2,355, with the 50-day EMA next in line. Further resistance lies at $2,548, $2,636, $2,781 and $3,075. Support at $2,204-$2,256 is currently under test, with a more significant floor below it at $2,107. A breach of that floor would bring $1,971 and $1,827 into focus as the next downside targets.

(The technical analysis of this story was written with the help of an AI tool. Know more.)