 ▲ Ethereum (ETH) |
Ethereum (ETH) has plunged helplessly below the $2,000 level, battered by a triple threat of an exodus by major whales, a chain reaction of capital outflows from the derivatives market, and macroeconomic headwinds stemming from tensions in the Middle East. While short-term investor sentiment has frozen solid, expectations for long-term growth potential remain alive amid news of sweeping upgrades aimed at fundamentally improving the network.
According to investment media outlet FX Leaders on March 2 (local time), Ethereum is currently trading near $1,963, down 3.8% over the past 24 hours, leading the broader cryptocurrency market decline. Compared with Bitcoin (BTC), which fell 2.73%, Ethereum has posted a notably steeper drop. The Crypto Fear & Greed Index on CoinMarketCap has fallen to 15, indicating Extreme Fear and reflecting intense risk-off sentiment among investors.
Behind the visible sell-off lies a dramatic structural shift among high-net-worth investors and in the derivatives market. Over the past 90 days, whale wallets holding between 100,000 and 1 million ETH have quietly reduced exposure by offloading holdings outside exchanges. Total open interest across crypto exchanges has also shrunk from 7.79 million ETH to 5.8 million ETH. In particular, Binance’s notional open interest plunged from $12.6 billion to $4.1 billion, signaling widespread leveraged liquidations among traders.
Compounding the pressure, the macroeconomic environment has further weighed on Ethereum. The U.S. core Producer Price Index (PPI) surged 0.8% month-over-month, heightening concerns over prolonged inflation and dampening expectations for Federal Reserve rate cuts. Additionally, geopolitical shockwaves from reported U.S. and Israeli airstrikes on Iran over the weekend triggered broad-based selling across the cryptocurrency market.
Despite these short-term clouds, Ethereum’s long-term roadmap continues to accelerate toward innovation. Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin has proposed a sweeping architectural overhaul, replacing the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) with RISC-V and transitioning to a binary state tree. This transformative change, considered essential for network scalability, is expected to gradually take shape through the Hegota upgrade in the second half of this year and the Glamsterdam update in the first half of 2026.
Technical indicators still warn that bearish momentum dominates the market. The current price remains below the 30-day simple moving average of $2,034 and the 7-day simple moving average of $1,946, while the Relative Strength Index (RSI) stands at 40.2, approaching oversold territory. Analysts caution that if the $1,748 support level breaks, Ethereum could fall further toward the $1,600–$1,700 range, emphasizing that reclaiming the $2,034 level is crucial for a meaningful rebound.
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