Ethereum

Ether (ETH) could advance about 25% in the coming months after the largest wallets holding more than 100,000 ETH moved back into aggregate profit for the first time since early February. If past post-signal patterns repeat, ETH may aim for around $2,750 by June and potentially above $3,200 by September, while other on-chain and chart levels highlight $2,353 and $2,640 as key hurdles.

On March 21, 2026, the CFTC confirmed that BTC, ETH, and tokenized assets can be used as eligible collateral in regulated futures and swaps markets, subject to liquidity, custody, and risk-management requirements. Congress is set to follow with a House Financial Services Committee hearing on tokenization and the future of capital markets on Wednesday, March 25 at 10AM EST.

Ethereum's market structure is increasingly supported by retail dip-buying as large holders remain largely inactive, which has helped keep price steadier but weakened upside follow-through. Exchange reserves rose to 15.86 million ETH (+0.1% in 24 hours) and net inflows totaled 17,994 ETH on March 19, while ETH traded around $2,153–$2,158 with funding near 0.0010% and perpetual open interest near $28.8–$29 billion.

Ethereum’s network activity accelerated in mid-March as active addresses climbed 121% over a few days, alongside a price rebound that briefly pushed ETH near $2,400. Active addresses rose from 381,202 on March 15, 2026, to 841,404 by March 19, while ETH later traded at $2,157, up 0.91% over the last 24 hours.

Ethereum wallet thomasg.eth rebuilt a roughly $19.5 million ETH position over the past week, spanning spot ETH, WETH and Aave-deposited ETH, capped by a fresh $3 million buy on March 20. The buying coincided with three straight US spot Ether ETF net outflow days totaling $55.7 million (March 18), $136.4 million (March 19) and $42 million (March 20). Separately, Bitmine chair Tom Lee said this week he believes an ETH bottom is forming and pointed to ETH's realized price near $2,241.

Wintermute CEO Evgeny Gaevoy argues that neither Ethereum nor Solana has built a durable competitive moat, despite Ethereum's $56 billion DeFi TVL versus Solana's $6.8 billion out of a $95.3 billion market total. He points to Hyperliquid's rise as evidence that newer venues can quickly capture activity, with Hyperliquid holding 45% of generated fee revenue while TRON has 20%, Solana 13%, BNB Chain 10%, and Ethereum 7%.

Bitcoin hovered around $69,800 as a record $7.1 trillion notional options expiry hit markets, with roughly $5 trillion tied to the S&P 500 and $880 billion to single stocks. Crypto sentiment was weak heading into Friday, with the Fear and Greed Index at 30 after a recent low of 23. The week’s event risk also includes $13.5 billion in crypto derivatives expiring on Deribit on March 27 and recent spot Bitcoin ETF outflows led by IBIT and FBTC.

Altcoins finished the week with modest gains led by XRP (+2.98% to about $1.43), while ETH rose 1.34% to around $2,133 and SOL was nearly unchanged near $88.81 after a March 17 spike. Despite the green closes, activity looked weaker, with Binance altcoin volume near $7.7 billion versus $40–50 billion at the October and February 2025 peaks and other exchanges totaling about $18.8 billion versus roughly $91 billion at prior highs.

Ether's 30-day average positive net taker volume rose to $142 million on March 17, a level last seen in July 2022, pointing to renewed aggressive buying in derivatives markets. Analysts say ETH could stabilize near $2,000, but a break below $2,150 and a slide into lower liquidity zones may raise the risk of a deeper move toward areas with heavy liquidation interest.

The U.S. CFTC has issued guidance detailing when futures commission merchants and clearinghouses may accept Bitcoin, Ethereum, and payment stablecoins as margin collateral in derivatives accounts. The framework permits use in futures, foreign futures, and cleared swaps (and allows clearinghouses to take crypto for initial margin), but keeps a ban on using crypto margin for uncleared swaps. Firms must notify the CFTC, follow enhanced reporting for the first 3 months, and apply haircuts such as a typical ~2% capital charge for payment stablecoins.