Ether\u2019s (ETH) price has retraced by over 5.6% to $2,275 after being rejected by resistance at $2,400. Now, multiple data points suggest ETH\/USD may drop below $2,000.<\/p>\n
Key takeaways:<\/strong><\/p>\n Ethereum\u2019s network fundamentals are weakening, with weekly average transactions dropping by 10% to 4.79 million, per data from Nansen. Active addresses dropped by 8% to 2.5 million over the same period.\u00a0<\/p>\n Related: <\/strong><\/em>Three reasons why Ether price rallies fizzle near $2.4K<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Network fees also dropped by approximately 27%, leading to a 47% reduction in onchain revenue over the last seven days.\u00a0<\/p>\n Blockchain comparison: Daily transactions, active addresses and network fees. Source: Nansen<\/em><\/p>\n Additional data from DefiLlama shows<\/span><\/a> that the weekly DEX volumes dropped to $1.64 billion on May 8, a 46% drop over the last three weeks.<\/p>\n Low transaction count, a drop in active addresses and declining DEX volumes reflect reduced ecosystem usage.\u00a0As a result, the total value locked (TVL) in Ethereum\u2019s DeFi protocols has dropped to $124.7 billion, levels last seen in May 2025.<\/p>\n Total value locked on Ethereum. Source: DefiLlama<\/em><\/p>\n This subdued network activity signals weak user conviction, affecting Ether’s ability to sustain upside price momentum.\u00a0<\/p>\n Ethereum\u2019s unstaking queue jumped by approximately 72,000% within two weeks to 530,985 ETH on May 2.\u00a0<\/p>\n As of Friday, over 202,000 ETH were queued for redemption, with a wait time of around three days.<\/p>\n Number of Ether queued for exit. Source: Validator Queue<\/em><\/p>\n The surge comes after a series of significant DeFi hacks, reflecting investor caution. April 2026 saw DeFi platforms suffer a record $625 million in monthly losses<\/span><\/a> following 30 separate attacks, including a $292 million loss from the KelpDAO bridge hack<\/span><\/a>, leading to over $15 billion in deposits withdrawn from the Aave platform<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n These incidents have prompted investors to unstake ETH to regain liquidity, signaling flight from perceived risk.<\/p>\n \u201cThe exit queue went from ~700 ETH to ~500K ETH in 2 weeks,\u201d analyst Pete said<\/span><\/a> in a recent post on X, adding:<\/p>\n \u201cDeFi yield on Ethereum is getting crushed by hacks, exploits and increasingly nasty attack surfaces.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Despite the sharp surge in outflow pressure, 3.6 million ETH remains queued for staking entry (7x exit volume), pushing total staked ETH to 38.6 million (31.72% of supply) despite 45-day wait times.<\/p>\n The Ethereum Coinbase Premium Index, which tracks the price difference between ETH on Coinbase and Binance, has stayed negative since April 27.<\/p>\n A negative premium confirms that the selling pressure is originating heavily from US entities. As long as US investors are selling at a discount compared to the global market, downside momentum will likely accelerate.<\/p>\n Ethereum Coinbase Premium Index. Source: CryptoQuant<\/em><\/p>\n Additionally, US-based spot Ethereum ETFs snapped a four-day inflow streak with $103 million in net outflows on Thursday, the largest withdrawal since mid-March.<\/p>\n Spot Ethereum ETFs flows chart. Source: SoSoValue<\/em><\/p>\n Coupled with more than $81.6 million in outflows<\/span><\/a> from global Ethereum investment products last week, this points to institutional selling, adding to Ether\u2019s headwinds.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, ETH taker buy volume dropped to as low as -$25 million on Binance in recent days, indicating a \u201csharp increase in aggressive market sell orders,\u201d CryptoQuant analyst BorisD said<\/span><\/a> in a Quicktake note on Friday, adding:<\/p>\n \u201cThis structure raises the risk of short-term volatility and a support retest for ETH price action.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n ETH taker buy volume on Binance. Source: CryptoQuant<\/em><\/p>\n The daily chart shows the ETH\/USD pair validating a rising wedge pattern after the price lost support at the pattern\u2019s lower trend line at $2,300.\u00a0<\/p>\n Bulls are now fighting to keep the price above $2,150-$2,200, where the 100-day and 50-week simple moving averages (SMAs) are, respectively.<\/p>\n Another key line of defense is the $2,000 psychological level, which, if breached, would clear the path for Ether\u2019s drop toward the measured target of the wedge at $1,830, about 20% below the current price.<\/p>\n ETH\/USD daily price chart. Source: Cointelegraph\/<\/em>TradingView<\/em><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n As Cointelegraph reported<\/span><\/a>, the ETH price may descend to $1,750-$1,850 if support at $2,300 is not reclaimed in the short term.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
Ether\u2019s total value locked hits 12-month lows<\/h2>\n
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<\/figure>\n<\/p>\nEther\u2019s exit queue jumps 72,000%<\/h2>\n
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<\/figure>\n<\/p>\nEther\u2019s Coinbase Premium remains negative<\/h2>\n
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<\/figure>\n<\/p>\nEther\u2019s rising wedge breakdown is underway<\/h2>\n
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