As the market continues to tug back and forth around the 3000 level, the signals from the trading charts have already changed.

At 3:00 PM, the ETH 1-hour MACD chart completed a death cross for the third time above the zero line, with the price instantly dropping below the 3000 mark, reaching a low of 2982. However, this decline is not just a simple technical breakdown.

The US "data bomb"—initial jobless claims and PPI—will be released within six hours. The problem is, it seems someone has already started digesting this data in advance.

**The Hidden Tricks Behind the Information Leak**

The initial jobless claims data, which should be announced at 20:30, was already circulating in the community in the afternoon with the figure of 232,000. That’s 12,000 higher than expected. Such early leaks are unlikely to be mere coincidence—more like institutions testing the market’s panic threshold.

Logically, weak employment data usually reinforce expectations of the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates, which should be positive for risk assets. But ETH’s strange reaction of falling instead of rising hints at another story: someone is manipulating the market using the data gap.

**Implications of the Positioning Report**

This week, the CFTC futures positioning report was unusually released simultaneously with the data. The latest figures show that last week, large traders reduced their long positions by 12,000 contracts, while short positions quietly increased by 8,000 contracts.

This clear position adjustment indicates that big funds have already completed their布局, waiting for the data release to trigger a market explosion.

With technical breakdowns, data-driven panic, and positioning showing ample shorting preparations, the combined signals suggest that tonight’s market is likely to see some volatility.