ETH just pulled the ultimate crypto bait-and-switch.

Bybit dropped $740 million buying Ethereum, and the price somehow dipped 5% anyway.

This market move has traders deleting their TA indicators and rethinking what it would take to break Ethereum out of its long-held range.

Hack Recovery

This all goes back to Bybit's massive hack just three days ago when their cold wallet got drained for $1.4 billion as hackers slipped malicious code into what looked like a routine transaction.

Ben Zhou and crew scrambled to patch the holes, scooping up 254,830 ETH through backdoor deals and institutional loans in just 48 hours.

The speed of their response shows just how far crypto crisis management has come since Mt. Gox.

It was lightning-fast, highly professional, and reassured the market in record time.

Why Price Go Down?

So why did ETH tank instead of pump on this news that nine figures in buy pressure hit the market?

For starters, traders who bet on Bybit panic-buying on open markets got absolutely rekt.

Futures open interest crashed from 8.82 million ETH to 8.52 million as leveraged longs got liquidated on the unexpected move south.

And, unsurprisingly, Bybit was smart enough to use OTC desks, avoiding the price impact that would've come from market orders.

The Fear Factor

The hack itself spooked investors more than anyone expected as well – it turns out that seeing a major exchange lose $1.4 billion because of EVM complexity doesn't exactly build confidence in the Ethereum ecosystem.

Even the most loyal ETH maxis are questioning if these advanced multisig setups are really worth the risk.

The market's memory of the DAO hack suddenly feels fresher than it has in years.

ETH is currently trading around $2700 on the news, down 3.50% and looking absolutely miserable despite the fresh inflows.

The weekly chart shows a dip of around 3%, while monthly performance is downright depressing at around -19%.

The slow bleed since the January rally has traders worried this might be more than just a pullback.

Silver Linings In The Cards

It's not all doom and gloom if you dig into the on-chain stats.

The Taker Buy-Sell Ratio just hit 1.085, meaning buyers are actually outpacing sellers despite the price drop.

US institutions haven't stopped accumulating, with Coinbase Premium staying firmly positive.

Even Ethereum's Stock-to-Flow ratio shot up to 99.13, suggesting ETH is getting scarcer by the minute.

Pump Soon?... Please?

Markets rarely do what everyone expects, especially in crypto.

While traders try to make sense of this paradox, smart money is watching for a potential snapback between $2,200 and $3,300.

One thing is for sure, though: Bybit's security team is likely implementing the mother of all audits on their remaining cold wallets.