Prominent crypto market maker Wintermute has issued a stark warning about Ethereum’s (ETH) position in the current economic landscape, declaring the asset unsuitable and inappropriate given mounting macro pressures. In its latest analysis, the firm highlighted Ethereum’s 10.2% weekly drop and the ETH/BTC ratio sinking to 0.0275, its lowest since July 2025, as evidence of structural weakness.
Wintermute pointed to a triple threat of rising yields, renewed inflation fears, and geopolitical uncertainty. U.S. CPI inflation reached 3.8% in April, exceeding forecasts, while Brent crude surged 8.6% over the past week to above $102 a barrel due to tensions in the Strait of Hormuz. Such conditions have shifted Fed futures from anticipating rate cuts to pricing in a hike in December — historically a hostile backdrop for digital assets.
The market maker underscored enormous institutional selling pressure: spot ETH ETFs saw $255 million in net outflows, the largest weekly exodus since late January. Glassnode data revealed an average daily sell-off of $88 million from institutions — the strongest since February. On derivatives markets, ETH open interest collapsed by $1 billion to $12.4 billion, and over 72% of long positions are now at risk of liquidation. The ETH sentiment index dropped from 47 to 27, signaling fear, while Binance’s futures buyer-to-seller ratio slipped to 0.91.
Despite the bleak short-term outlook, Wintermute acknowledged that certain structural pillars remain robust: 24.6 million ETH sit in accumulation addresses, more than 31% of the supply is staked, and Ethereum continues to anchor decentralized finance without triggering cascading liquidations. However, the firm firmly concluded that betting on ETH or even on Bitcoin at current levels implies a wager that institutional investors will return despite worsening yields and accelerating inflation — a bet they view as questionable.
