Ethereum rose 1% over the past 24 hours, matching a broader crypto market uptick of 1.27% and extending its weekly gains to 7.15%. This rally has been propelled by a confluence of bullish technical signals, surging institutional interest through ETFs, and renewed momentum around Ethereum’s long-awaited network upgrades. While optimism is mounting, market participants remain cautious about elevated leverage and near-term revenue pressures stemming from Layer-2 competition.
The recent price action was sparked by a decisive technical breakout. Ethereum reclaimed key resistance levels, notably piercing above its 50-day moving average at $3,023—the first time it has done so since October 9. This move triggered a cascade of short liquidations near the $3,100 mark, where over $50.4 million in leveraged BTC and ETH positions were unwound. Open interest on Binance surged by 12% to $7.1 billion, suggesting fresh long positions—not just short covering—were driving the rally. Analysts note that breaking above such a significant moving average often signals a shift in market sentiment, drawing in momentum traders. However, the high level of outstanding derivatives positions introduces added volatility risk; a failure to hold critical support could provoke sharp downside moves. Market observers are now watching the $3,120 level—a 0.618 Fibonacci retracement—as a crucial threshold to confirm the bullish structure. A sustained hold above this mark could pave the way toward the 200-day moving average around $3,550.
In parallel, institutional demand for Ethereum continues to accelerate. BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, has dramatically increased its ETH holdings in 2025, accumulating 3.47 million ETH—valued at approximately $10.31 billion—marking a 224% year-to-date surge. Last week alone, spot Ethereum ETFs attracted $458 million in inflows, according to Growthpie, even as gold ETFs experienced outflows. This institutional anchoring of ETH as a strategic treasury asset is beginning to reduce circulating supply and tighten market liquidity. Historically, ETF-driven demand catalyzed Bitcoin’s explosive rally in 2024, and many analysts now expect a similar dynamic could unfold for Ethereum if inflows remain consistent.
Adding fuel to the optimism is Ethereum’s progress on core protocol upgrades. Vitalik Buterin recently announced that the network’s zero-knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine (ZK-EVM) has reached production readiness, a milestone that promises to dramatically enhance scalability by enabling faster and cheaper Layer-2 transactions. Simultaneously, the launch of PeerDAS—peer-based data availability sampling—addresses a critical bottleneck in Ethereum’s scaling roadmap. While these developments reinforce Ethereum’s technological edge over competitors, they come with near-term trade-offs. Intense competition among Layer-2 networks has driven down transaction fees on Ethereum’s mainnet, resulting in a 53% year-over-year decline in protocol revenue, per Growthpie. Thus, while the long-term outlook remains bullish, short-term financial metrics for the base layer are under pressure.
In sum, Ethereum’s recent rally reflects a balanced interplay of technical momentum, deep-pocketed institutional support, and growing anticipation of transformative upgrades. Yet the path forward is not without risks: a leverage-heavy derivatives market and compressed mainnet revenues present potential headwinds. The critical test in the coming days will be whether ETH can maintain support above $3,120. A successful defense of this level may unlock the next leg higher, with the 200-day moving average at $3,550 emerging as the next major target.
Source:: Ethereum reclaimed key resistance levels, notably piercing above its 50-day moving average at $3,023