TLDR
- Ethereum (ETH) spiked to $1,690 before facing selling pressure, dropping below $1,600
- Currently trading around $1,577, down about 1.76-3.32% in recent trading periods
- Technical analysts warn ETH could potentially fall below $1,000 if support levels fail
- Vitalik Buterin is prioritizing privacy solutions within the Ethereum ecosystem
- Despite price challenges, Ethereum generated over $1 billion in DApp fee revenue in Q1 2025
Ethereum (ETH) has retreated below the $1,600 mark after briefly touching $1,690, raising concerns among traders and investors about its short-term trajectory. The second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization is currently trading at $1,577, showing a decline of approximately 1.76% in recent trading.
The price movement comes as Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin emphasizes the importance of privacy within the blockchain ecosystem, calling it a “first priority” for development initiatives.
ETH formed a strong base above $1,550 before initiating an upward move, mirroring Bitcoin’s recent momentum. The bullish action pushed the token beyond several key resistance levels at $1,600 and $1,620, eventually peaking around $1,690.
However, following this sharp increase, Ethereum faced selling pressure and began correcting its gains. The asset dipped below the $1,600 support level, showing signs of weakening bullish strength.
A connecting bullish trend line with support at $1,625 was also breached, signaling possible short-term bearish sentiment in the market.
Technical Analysis Points to Potential Further Decline
Market analyst Ali Marteniz observed that ETH had been growing stronger after breaking out of an ascending triangle pattern. This bullish chart pattern indicated strong buyer demand that was likely to continue rising if volume remained consistent.
#Ethereum $ETH is breaking out of an ascending triangle in the hourly chart! pic.twitter.com/4CXEgxFaXo
— Ali (@ali_charts) April 16, 2025
However, the ETH price has since retraced to the 50% level of the rise from the swing bottom at $1,472 to the recent high at $1,690. It is now trading below both the $1,625 price mark and the 100-hour Simple Moving Average, suggesting that bullish momentum is no longer dominant in the short term.
On the upside, Ethereum faces considerable resistance near $1,590, which represents both a technical hurdle and psychological level. If buying pressure pushes past that mark, the next targets would be at $1,640 and then $1,650.
A confirmed break above $1,650 could trigger another push that might send prices back to the recent high of $1,690.
Ethereum’s Ecosystem Strength Despite Price Weakness
Despite the price challenges, Ethereum continues to demonstrate its dominance in the decentralized application (DApp) space. In Q1 2025, Ethereum generated an impressive $1.021 billion in fee revenue, significantly outpacing competitors.
The layer-2 network Base came in second at $193 million, followed by BNB Chain at $170 million, Arbitrum at $73.8 million, and Avalanche C-Chain at $27.68 million.
Ethereum’s first-mover advantage in supporting smart contracts, strong security profile, and large DApp ecosystem with over 4,983 active applications across DeFi, NFTs, and gaming industries help maintain its leading position among blockchains.
According to DefiLlama, Ethereum’s DeFi systems have $46 billion in Total Value Locked (TVL), representing 51% of the entire DeFi market.
Though mainnet gas fees remain a concern for many users, the Dencun upgrade implemented in 2024 has helped improve Ethereum’s throughput by lowering costs on Layer-2 networks and increasing scalability.
In a recent blog post, Buterin emphasized that “Privacy is freedom,” expressing concerns about increasing corporate and governmental authority. Having personally experienced his own lack of privacy, he noted, “every single action I take outside has some nonzero chance of unexpectedly becoming a public media story.”
Buterin has proposed several privacy-enhancing solutions, primarily based on zero-knowledge proofs (ZK-proofs), which allow “fine-grained control of who can see what information.” These include privacy pools for ethical anonymization and compliance with regulations.
Ethereum has re-entered a multi-year bearish range and is now hovering near its midpoint—a critical area with no immediate bullish signals. According to a recent analysis by trader @brarno882, if buyers fail to step in soon, a drop below $1,000 could be imminent.
Traders should watch for possible support at $1,449; should this level fail, there is more downside risk at $1,300. Conversely, a closing above $1,700 would indicate a comeback toward the next barrier at $1,861.
While market sentiment remains negative, Ethereum’s development roadmap presents potential catalysts for improvement. Vitalik Buterin recently hinted that future network upgrades could come faster, noting “a lot of willingness to do faster hard forks post-Pectra with near-zero pushback.”
The upcoming Pectra upgrade, scheduled for May 7, is expected to be Ethereum’s most significant update since Dencun in early 2024. This upgrade aims to deliver better scalability, lower costs, improved security, and smart accounts to the network.
Following Pectra, Ethereum’s roadmap includes the Fusaka and “Glamesome” improvements, which might offer technological advancements to help in future price recovery.
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