Ethereum’s Quirky Wait: Will It Spark a $4,000 Rocket or Stay Stuck?

by

In the grand game of blockchain chess, Ethereum’s popularity is climbing, thanks to more folks fiddling with it and an ETF frenzy that’s practically shouting, “Buy me!” Looks like we might be heading towards a $4,000 milestone-if everything goes right, of course, or at least somewhat predictably.

Ethereum has been playing the frustrating “ebb and flow” game for over two months now-think of it as a sort of digital seesaw that refuses to decide whether it’s heading up or down. The market folks are basically twiddling their thumbs, waiting for a sign from the universe-or data-to tell us which way the coin will flick.

Ethereum’s New Fan Club: Daily Users Double as Engagement Goes Through the Roof

Ali, our friendly neighborhood analyst, pointed out that people are actually spending time on Ethereum again, which is a nice change from the “one time wonder” handshakes of yesteryear. Data shows that the number of users sticking around has almost doubled in a month, reaching a level we haven’t seen in years. Yes, years-the last time Ethereum was this lively was during an era when people still thought “blockchains” were only for sci-fi movies.

According to the sages at Glassnode, about 4 million new addresses decided to say hello this month. That’s enough new friends to fill a small stadium-roughly 8 million active addresses, to be exact. And unlike fleeting airdrop temptations, these new users seem genuinely interested, sticking around for more than just free tokens. It’s like a real club, not a flash mob.

Meanwhile, the daily active addresses have shot up to over 800,000, nearly doubling in a couple of weeks-pretty impressive if you’re a fan of numbers that go up.

Image Source: Ali Martinez

Transaction activity isn’t lagging behind either. We’re talking about a staggering 2.8 million transactions daily, which is basically Ethereum’s version of a busy city street. This bump can be traced back to the Fusaka upgrade-it’s like giving Ethereum a new turbo engine that expanded its block capacity by about a third. Zoom!

And here’s the twist: all this increased usage hasn’t made transactions more expensive. Nope, fees are down, thanks to Ethereum cooperating with Layer-2 networks like Arbitrum and Optimism-think of them as helpful friends that take the load off, making everything smoother and cheaper. Now, most activity is about settling transactions and moving stablecoins around-business as usual with a side of scaling strategy.

ETF Love Affair: Investors Are Growing More Confident in Ethereum’s Future

Ali noted that the investment crowd is also getting bullish-they’ve been piling into Ether-based ETFs, scooping up a whopping 158,545 ETH, worth nearly half a billion dollars-impressive, right? And between January 12 and 16 alone, these investment vehicles pulled in around $2.7 billion. Yes, billion with a “B.”

Interestingly, most of this buying binge happened when Ether was hanging between $2,772 and $3,119-but don’t worry, these are now considered the “support zones,” like a safety net for any potential future surge. So, in the universe of crypto, it’s kind of like the good old “buy low, sell high” game, even if nobody actually does that in real life.

Price’s Whisper: Will Ethereum Break Free or Stay Stuck?

Currently, Ethereum is dancing around the $3,222 mark after taking a 3% tumble-a typical Tuesday? Market sentiment is shivering in fear, like everyone at a horror movie, while the price is below the 200-day moving average, which is fancy talk for “not terribly enthusiastic.” Over the past year, Ether has only lost about 6%, lagging behind its more flamboyant crypto friends. Ouch.

However, it’s not all doom and gloom. The short-term outlook is more balanced-of the last 30 days, 17 saw prices close higher than they opened, and liquidity remains strong-probably because Ethereum’s market cap is hefty enough to keep the lights on.

Image Source: Ali Martinez

Ali mentioned that Ethereum’s price is compacting into a triangle pattern-kind of like a digital traffic jam, waiting to burst free. If it can stay above $3,085, there’s a slim chance of heading north. Reach $3,400, and we could see it pop as high as $3,660. Push further and – if luck’s on your side – $4,000 might be within reach. But if support drops away, well, it’s back to square one in the crypto soap opera.

Read More

2026-01-20 12:02