Ethereum has surged from below $2,000 to a daily high of $2,444.20, gaining about 25% since Wednesday, as forced short closures, U.S. spot ETF inflows, whale activity and renewed derivatives demand support the advance. A 50,000 ETH short held by the ENS-linked address pension-usdt.eth was liquidated on Hyperliquid within 12 seconds, producing a reported $26.66 million loss after the trader had previously made roughly $49 million across 23 consecutive winning trades. Broader liquidation estimates range from $2.99 billion to about $3 billion, with Ethereum representing as much as roughly $1.2 billion and ETH shorts accounting for $237.44 million in one 24-hour CoinGlass measure. U.S. spot Ethereum ETFs attracted $219.50 million Thursday, while open interest stood near $31.67 billion to $31.79 billion and funding rates reached 0.081%. ETH has reclaimed major exponential moving averages, but a 14-day RSI of 85 and stochastic oscillator near 92 indicate overbought conditions and the possibility of consolidation or a pullback.