Ethereum price stalls at key price but on-chain metrics point to a surge

By Crispus Nyaga

December 17, 2024 at 3:34 pm

Edited by Jayson Derrick

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Ethereum price has stalled at the resistance level of $4,000, but on-chain metrics and other external factors points to more gains.

Ethereum ETH-4.11%Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, was trading at $4,008. But the momentum failed to continue as it has faced resistance over the past three consecutive weeks.

Still, ETH has positive catalysts that could push its price higher in the near term. The first main catalyst is that Bitcoin BTC-3.41%Bitcoin has continued rising and moved to a record high this week. Altcoins like Ether often follow the price of Bitcoin.

Spot Ethereum ETFs are also seeing strong inflows, a trend that may continue in the coming months. Its cumulative inflows rose to over $2.3 billion, with those by Grayscale and Blackrock having the biggest market share. It has had inflows in the last 17 consecutive days.

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On-chain metrics show that the number of active Ethereum addresses has held steady just under 600,000. Total addresses have risen to over 123 million, according to IntoTheBlock.

More data, as shown below, shows that Ethereum whales are continuing to hold their coins. There are 90 accounts holding between 100k and 1 million ETH tokens and 966 of them holding between 10k and 100k coins. 

Meanwhile, data shows that Ether is seeing accumulation below the $4,000 metric. 7.2 million coins were bought slightly below that level.

As $ETH pushes back above $4000, a strong support level is solidifying just below this threshold.

7.2 million ETH were purchased at prices slightly under $4,000, signaling significant demand. This demand should help sustain Ethereum's value above the $4,000 level. pic.twitter.com/yAunfqcbY5

— IntoTheBlock (@intotheblock) December 17, 2024

Etherscan data shows that one Ethereum whale moved 16,000 ETH tokens worth $64 million from Binance to a custodial wallet. More such transactions have happened in the past few weeks.

Meanwhile, Ethereum’s Decentralized Exchange ecosystem is doing well as its total value locked jumped by 36% to $79 billion. Its DeFi protocols have more asses than the next ten chains, combined.