Solana non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace Magic Eden has acquired crypto trading app Slingshot as part of a strategy to expand beyond NFTs as other marketplaces fold amid a prolonged market downturn.

The move expands Magic Eden’s support to more than 8 million tokens across almost every major blockchain, the firm said in an April 9 X post.

“No bridges. No CEXs. This is another major step towards our vision of providing the best platform to trade all assets, on all chains,” Magic Eden said.

Source: Jack Lu

Slingshot has amassed nearly 1 million users to date, allowing users to access any token on 10 of the largest blockchains with a universal USDC (USDC) balance.

Slingshot is one of several crypto platforms aiming to deliver full-chain abstraction — eliminating the need for users to choose the right wallet, ensure they have enough gas fees, find a trusted bridge and move funds — only then to buy the token they’re after.

Magic Eden CEO Jack Lu hopes the integration will help shift more of the 500 million users still relying on centralized exchanges toward more crypto-native, onchain platforms.

NFT marketplaces shutter as market lulls

Lu said that Magic Eden and Slingshot and Magic Eden will continue to operate independently but noted there will be “increasing connectivity” between the platforms over time.

Lu also noted that Magic Eden made $75 million from its NFT marketplace in 2024 and hopes the Slingshot acquisition will help drive those numbers up even higher.

Related: Bitcoin NFTs, layer-2 and restaking hype ‘completely gone’

Magic Eden’s expansion comes as several NFT marketplaces have shuttered in recent months.

DraftKings, GameStop and the crypto exchange Bybit all closed their NFT marketplaces, with Bybit citing falling NFT trading volumes in its April 8 announcement.

X2Y2 also recently announced that its NFT marketplace would shut down on April 30 as the firm looks to pivot into artificial intelligence.

NFT marketplaces have seen $1.6 billion worth of NFT sales across 14 million transactions so far in 2025, CryptoSlam data shows.

However, monthly sales volume has fallen every single month in 2025, and the $1.6 billion is nowhere near on track to match the $8.9 billion total from 2024, let alone the record $23.7 billion seen in 2022.

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Ether’s (ETH) most recent sell-off saw it lose the crucial $1,500 support level, and a number of technical indicators suggest that ETH may witness a deeper correction before embarking on a sustained recovery.

Data shows Ether’s price dropped below its realized price — an onchain metric that recalculates the market value of a cryptocurrency based on the price at which each coin last moved on the blockchain.

According to CryptoQuant contributor, theKriptolik, ETH price trading below this metric, which is historically a bearish sign. When the realized price is above the spot price, it usually acts as resistance and places “most holders suddenly in a loss position,” the analyst said.

The analyst added:

“Drops below the realized price often mark the capitulation phase, where investors lose confidence and begin selling en masse.”

Ethereum realized price for accumulation addresses. Source: CryptoQuant

In June 2022, Ether’s realized price fell below the spot price, preceding a 51% drop in ETH price following the Terra Luna market crash. A similar scenario was witnessed in November 2022, when the metric fell below the price before Ether dropped 35% following the FTX collapse. 

Now that a similar scenario is playing out, the current setup loosely echoes those prior bearish continuation phases, with ETH price at risk of a deeper correction. 

Spot Ethereum ETF flows remain weak

Spot Ethereum ETFs continue to weaken, with more than $3.3 million in net outflows on April 8. In fact, these investment products have recorded $94.1 million in outflows over the last two weeks against $13 million in inflows.

The lack of investor interest is concerning, especially since institutional demand was considered a key part of Ether’s appeal and played a role in the gains accrued in May 2024 as investors bet on an ETF approval from the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

Spot Ether ETF flows table. Source: Farside Investors

This is also reflected across all other Ether products, with the report from CoinShares pointing out that flows into Ethereum investment funds align with the bearishness seen across the market, with $37.4 million outflows recorded during the week ending April 4.

ETH open interest is low, and funding rates are negative

Another factor weighing Ether’s price down is the lack of enthusiasm in its derivatives market, evidenced by low open interest and negative funding rates. 

Open interest (OI)—the total number of outstanding futures and options contracts—remains low, indicating reduced trader participation and speculative activity. Currently, at $16.7 billion, the metric is 48% below its peak of $32.3 billion witnessed on Jan. 24.

Declining OI signals waning investor confidence or interest, which can exacerbate the price decline as buying pressure dries up.

ETH open interest across all exchanges. Source: CoinGlass

Compounding this issue are negative funding rates in Ether’s perpetual futures markets, which are hovering below 0%, indicating that bearish sentiment dominates the market.

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When rates turn negative, it means shorts (bets against the price) are paying longs to keep their positions open, suggesting a dominance of bearish sentiment. 

ETH funding rates across all exchanges. Source: Glassnode

Competing layer-1 blockchains outpace Ethereum network activity

Ethereum’s high gas fees offer an opportunity for competing layer-1 blockchains focusing on high scalability to eat into its market share in the space. While a fraction of the activity has moved to Ethereum layer-2 solutions, some users and developers opt for other top layer-1 alternatives such as the BNB Chain, Solana, Avalanche and Tron.

As a result, Ethereum’s network activity growth has fallen behind that of its rivals. 

Top blockchains ranked by 24-hour DApps volume, USD. Source: DappRadar

Ethereum’s unique active wallets (UAW) — addresses engaging with decentralized applications (DApps) on the platform — declined by over 33% over the last 30 days compared to just a 16% decrease on Solana and a 16% increase on Tron.

Similarly, the total number of transactions deployed on the Ethereum network dropped by 40.5% during the same period, while transactions on the BNB Chain, Solana and Avalanche decreased by 16%, 30% and 23%, respectively. Transactions on Tron and Fantom increased by 23% and 16%.

There’s no indication that the factors weighing on Ether’s price — such as declining network activity and low demand for its spot ETF products — will reverse anytime soon. 

While this doesn’t guarantee that Ether’s price will remain in an extended downtrend, the technical setup suggests that ETH’s price may bottom at $1,000.

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

Bitcoin inflows into crypto exchange Binance have surged over the past two weeks amid uncertainty over US President Donald Trump’s tariffs and the upcoming US Consumer Price Index (CPI) results, says an analyst.

However, another analyst argued that while it could signal an impending sell-off, it might also indicate a bullish trend.

Investors are “actively moving funds to Binance”

CryptoQuant contributor Maarten Regterschot said in an April 9 post that Binance’s Bitcoin (BTC) reserve increased by 22,106 BTC, worth $1.82 billion, over the last 12 days to a total of 590,874 BTC.

“This shows a strong acceleration in BTC inflows to Binance. It’s likely that investors are actively moving funds to Binance due to the macro uncertainty and before the upcoming CPI announcement,” Regterschot said. 

CoinMarketCap shows Bitcoin is trading at $82,474 at the time of publication, up 8.8% in the past day after receiving a boost from Trump’s 90-day tariff pause on all countries but China.

Binance’s Bitcoin Reserve has 590,874 Bitcoin. Source: CryptoQuant

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics is scheduled to deliver the CPI results for March on April 10.

During uncertain times, traders often move their crypto onto exchanges to sell, leading to more volatility as confidence starts to decline.

However, Swyftx lead analyst Pav Hundal told Cointelegraph that this isn’t always a bearish signal. “Large inflows could be a sign of selling, but it is a very fluid market. It is plausible that Binance is shifting assets into its hot wallets to meet heavy demand.”

“The next few days are critical in understanding the appetite of the market for crypto after Trump’s climbdown on tariffs,” he said.

Earlier on April 9, Trump issued a 90-day pause on his administration’s “reciprocal tariffs,” lowering the tariff rate to 10% on all countries besides China, which he ramped up to 125%, citing the country’s counter-tariffs against the US.

“Tensions between the US and China remain a structural overhang,” Hundal said. 

Related: Bitcoin price at risk of new 5-month low near $71K if tariff war and stock market tumult continues

Meanwhile, crypto analyst Matthew Hyland said that the March CPI results “will show inflation is crashing down probably close to 2.5%.”

“Another interesting day coming,” he added. 

Crypto analyst Dyme said, “Lower than expected CPI print will send us higher.”

However, FactSet’s consensus estimates show economists expect consumer prices to have risen by 0.1% month-over-month in March. 

On March 12, the CPI came in lower than expected at 3.1%, beating expectations of 3.2%, with a corresponding 0.1% drop in headline inflation figures.

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This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.