Ethereum dropped 2.6% toward $1,870 on Aug. 11 after another rejection below $1,950 triggered long liquidations. Traders are now watching whether the $1,850 support level holds ahead of the U.S. inflation report due Aug. 12.
Ethereum slips back below $1,900
Ethereum traded near $1,870 after sellers rejected another attempt to hold above the $1,900 psychological level, extending a decline from the Aug. 10 high near $1,935. It briefly touched an intraday low of approximately $1,867. ETH later recovered to around $1,886, trimming part of the daily loss, but the rebound left the price below the short-term resistance area that has contained every advance since late July.
The decline follows several days of compression between roughly $1,850 and $1,950. Buyers approached the upper end of that range in the previous session but could not secure a daily close above $1,900.
Sellers regain the upper hand
Repeated rejections near $1,900–$1,950 encouraged short-term traders to take profits, and the move lower exposed leveraged long positions opened in anticipation of a breakout. The 4-hour Bull Bear Power indicator fell to -25.44, showing sellers regained short-term control. The 4-hour Supertrend also flipped bearish, placing dynamic resistance near $1,925.
Broader risk appetite remains cautious before the July U.S. Consumer Price Index report, due Aug. 12 at 8:30 a.m. Eastern. A hotter-than-expected reading could support a higher-for-longer Federal Reserve policy outlook and pressure speculative assets, while softer inflation could help ETH challenge its overhead resistance.
Liquidation map flags $1,895 and $1,940
The 3-day CoinGlass heatmap shows a dense cluster of leveraged positions near $1,895, just above the current price, with the strongest overhead concentration near $1,940 — inside the same zone that has stopped recent advances. Downside liquidity is concentrated around $1,857, where a decline could trigger another round of long liquidations before buyers defend the broader $1,840–$1,850 zone.
$1,850 stays the line in the sand
Ethereum trades below its 20-day and 100-day moving averages, at $1,892.52 and $1,895.32, and remains well under the 200-day SMA at $2,040.56. The 50-day SMA near $1,810 provides the closest major dynamic support below the current range. Daily momentum stays neutral, with the RSI at 51.63, slightly below its signal average of 53.51.
Analyst Ted Pillows identified $1,850 as a must-hold level for another push above $1,900, with upside targets near $2,000 and $2,190, and warned that losing it could open a decline toward $1,700 and eventually $1,550. Daan Crypto Trades offered a similar read, arguing ETH must break and hold $1,950 to open a move above $2,100, and likewise marked $1,850 as the bullish invalidation level.
CPI data looms over ETH's next move
Institutional demand offers some support: U.S. spot Ethereum ETFs attracted approximately $244.9 million during the week ended Aug. 7, though that flow has not been strong enough to force a breakout through $1,950. Failure to recover $1,900 would keep ETH vulnerable to another test of $1,857 and $1,850, while a daily close below that floor would expose the 50-day SMA near $1,810.
Source: crypto.news
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