Ethereum futures data and network activity growth back ETH’s price strength

Key takeaways:

Ether (ETH) has repeatedly failed to interrupt above $2,700 since Could 13, however regardless of this short-term weak point, Ether’s worth has outperformed the broader cryptocurrency market capitalization by 17% over the previous 30 days, elevating the chance of a correction as macroeconomic uncertainty continues.

Buyers are involved that declining curiosity in decentralized purposes (DApps) throughout all blockchains is a key cause why ETH nonetheless trades 48% under its October 2021 all-time excessive of $4,870. The business’s whole worth locked (TVL), at present at $122 billion, remains to be 43% under its December 2021 peak.

Ethereum continues to dominate the TVL panorama with a 54.2% market share, and main Ethereum layer-2 options have secured an extra 6.3% share of the TVL, lowering the aggressive strain from various blockchains. Altogether, deposits inside the Ethereum ecosystem are greater than 4 instances larger than the mixed totals of its two largest rivals, Solana and BNB Chain.

Critics argue that Ethereum was unprepared for the memecoin frenzy that outlined the primary quarter of 2025, particularly as onchain exercise on Solana spiked after the Official Trump (TRUMP) token launched in January. Nonetheless, whereas a couple of Solana DApps skilled sturdy momentum, the general profit for SOL holders stays unsure.

For instance, the highest 4 Solana DApps — Meteora, Pump, Jito, and Axiom — generated $356.3 million in charges over the previous 30 days. Nonetheless, the Solana community itself collected solely $48.5 million throughout the identical interval. This dynamic creates downward strain on SOL’s worth, as a number of of those tasks recurrently unload treasury reserves.

For comparability, the highest 4 DApps on Ethereum generated $169 million in charges over the identical 30-day interval, whereas customers paid $38.3 million in community processing charges. This means that Ethereum’s dependence on layer-2 scaling options could also be extra favorable for ETH traders in comparison with Solana’s uneven income distribution.

Ether traders are pissed off, however layer-2 progress stands out

To gauge whether or not merchants turned bearish after Ether’s 9% worth drop between Could 29 and Could 30, it’s helpful to look at ETH futures markets.

Regardless of $159 million in liquidated bullish leveraged positions through the two-day decline, the ETH futures annualized premium remained close to 6%. In impartial markets, a premium between 5% and 10% is taken into account normal, as sellers require compensation for delayed settlement.

Some Ether traders are additionally pissed off by Ethereum’s lack of distinct aggressive benefits. The newest community improve didn’t shift sentiment considerably. Nonetheless, Ethereum’s layer-2 ecosystem is now processing over 15 instances extra transactions than the bottom layer.

In the end, investor sentiment stays anchored to broader macroeconomic developments. The chance of ETH breaking under the $2,400 stage is intently tied to international recession dangers and commerce tensions. Ethereum’s TVL and transaction scalability assist cushion the draw back threat and scale back the prospect that ETH will underperform the broader altcoin market.

This text is for common info functions and isn’t supposed to be and shouldn’t be taken as authorized or funding recommendation. The views, ideas, and opinions expressed listed below are the writer’s alone and don’t essentially replicate or characterize the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.