Ether (ETH) is trading at $3,310, showing an 11% increase year-to-date. This upward momentum is fueled by renewed buying in spot Ethereum ETFs and record-breaking on-chain activity, with analysts projecting a potential rise to $4,500 in the coming weeks.
Key Observations
- •Spot Ethereum ETFs have recorded $474.6 million in inflows over a four-day period, exceeding new supply and indicating strong institutional interest.
- •Ethereum network activity has surged, with the number of active addresses reaching a 28-month high.
- •Traders anticipate an ETH rally to $4,500, provided that key support levels are maintained.
Ethereum ETFs Attract Significant Investment
Ether has experienced a notable increase in demand from institutional investors, who have been expanding their ETH holdings through spot Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Data from Farside Investors indicates that US-based spot Ethereum ETFs have seen inflows for four consecutive days, accumulating a total of $474.6 million.
The inflow of $175.1 million recorded on Wednesday marked the highest single-day inflow since December 9, 2025, and represented the largest daily inflow of 2026 for these ETFs.
Daily institutional buying, encompassing both DATs and ETFs, has also seen an increase, reaching a net buying rate of 6,964 ETH per day, according to data from Capriole Investments.
While monthly and weekly volumes for Ethereum treasury companies have seen a decline, some active participants, such as Bitmine, led by Wall Street strategist Tom Lee, continue to increase their ETH holdings.
Despite the recent attention on inflows, a sustained recovery in ETH's price will likely depend on a return to consistent institutional demand.
Ethereum's Network Activity Surges
Ethereum's network activity continues to demonstrate robust growth. Over the past 30 days, active addresses have increased by 53%, reaching a 28-month high of 995,779 as of January 15, according to Nansen data.
The last time Ethereum's daily active addresses reached similar levels was on September 13, 2023, when the metric surged to approximately 1.09 million. This figure represented the second-highest level in the network's history, surpassed only by a peak of around 1.4 million in December 2022.
Furthermore, the daily transaction count reached a record high of 2.9 million on January 16, according to data from DefiLlama.
YouTuber CryptoRover commented on this milestone in an X post on Friday, stating, "Daily Ethereum transactions are exploding."
Fellow analyst FenoXBT echoed this sentiment in an X post, adding, "Ethereum smashed a new ATH with 2.6M daily transactions and gas fees are below $0.01!!! This is what real scaling looks like."
Analyst Projections Indicate Upward Price Trend
At the time of writing, ETH was trading at $3,300, representing a 7.3% increase over the past seven days.
As previously reported, maintaining a position above the $3,050-$3,170 demand zone is considered crucial for ETH's upside potential, setting the stage for a possible rally above $4,000.
The 50-week exponential moving average is situated within this demand zone, and a weekly close above this trendline is deemed necessary to solidify the bullish weekly structure, according to trader Coinvo Trading.
"The weekly structure stays intact, ETH is going higher."
Crypto Rover suggests that ETH is poised for a significant upward movement, exhibiting strength after breaking out of a symmetrical triangle pattern. The target for this pattern on the daily chart is $4,500, according to TradingView data.
Furthermore, Crypto Rover shared a chart indicating a potential for an extended rally to $5,500, based on Fibonacci retracement analysis.
