After failing to break through the $2,400 resistance level, Ether (ETH) has pulled back over 5.6% to trade around $2,275. At this point, several indicators suggest ETH/USD could potentially dip below the $2,000 mark.
Key highlights:
- Declining network activity points to lower usage and shrinking on-chain demand for ETH.
- The Coinbase Premium remains in negative territory as spot Ethereum ETF outflows resume, signaling strong selling pressure from U.S.-based investors.
- A falling wedge pattern on Ether’s chart projects a potential downside target of $1,830.
Ethereum’s total value locked reaches 12-month lows
Ethereum’s network fundamentals are showing signs of strain. According to Nansen data, weekly average transactions fell 10% to 4.79 million, while active addresses declined 8% to 2.5 million during the same period.
Related: Three reasons why Ether price rallies fizzle near $2.4K
Network fees also slid roughly 27%, contributing to a 47% drop in on-chain revenue over the past week.
Blockchain comparison: Daily transactions, active addresses and network fees. Source: Nansen
Additional figures from DefiLlama reveal that weekly DEX volumes fell to $1.64 billion on May 8 — a 46% decline over the preceding three weeks.
The combination of fewer transactions, shrinking active addresses and declining DEX volumes paints a picture of waning engagement across the ecosystem. As a result, the total value locked (TVL) in Ethereum’s DeFi protocols has dropped to $124.7 billion, reaching levels not seen since May 2025.
Total value locked on Ethereum. Source: DefiLlama
This subdued on-chain activity reflects weakening user confidence, undermining Ether’s ability to sustain upward price momentum.
Ether’s exit queue skyrockets 72,000%
Ethereum’s unstaking queue surged roughly 72,000% in just two weeks, reaching 530,985 ETH on May 2.
As of Friday, more than 202,000 ETH were queued for withdrawal, with an estimated wait time of approximately three days.
Number of Ether queued for exit. Source: Validator Queue
The surge follows a wave of high-profile DeFi security breaches that have shaken investor confidence. April 2026 marked a record-breaking month for DeFi losses, with platforms suffering $625 million in combined damages across 30 separate incidents. Among the most notable was the KelpDAO bridge exploit, which resulted in a $292 million loss, triggering over $15 billion in withdrawals from Aave.
These events have driven investors to unstake their ETH to regain access to liquid funds — a clear sign of capital fleeing from perceived risk.
“The exit queue went from ~700 ETH to ~500K ETH in 2 weeks,” analyst Pete wrote in a recent post on X, adding:
“DeFi yield on Ethereum is getting crushed by hacks, exploits and increasingly nasty attack surfaces.”
Despite the sharp spike in outflow pressure, 3.6 million ETH remains waiting in the staking entry queue (about 7 times the exit volume), pushing the total staked ETH to 38.6 million (31.72% of total supply) — even with wait times stretching up to 45 days.
Ether’s Coinbase Premium stays negative
The Ethereum Coinbase Premium Index, which measures the price gap between ETH on Coinbase and Binance, has remained negative since April 27.
A negative premium confirms that selling pressure is being driven predominantly by U.S. market participants. As long as American investors are offloading ETH at below-global-market prices, the downward momentum is likely to continue accelerating.
Ethereum Coinbase Premium Index. Source: CryptoQuant
In addition, spot Ethereum ETFs in the United States saw their four-day run of inflows come to an end, recording net outflows of $103 million on Thursday—the largest single-day withdrawal since mid-March.
Spot Ethereum ETFs flows chart. Source: SoSoValue
This follows over $81.6 million in outflows from global Ethereum investment products last week, signaling active selling by institutional investors—adding further downward pressure on Ether.
At the same time, taker buy volume on Binance for ETH dropped sharply to -$25 million in recent days. CryptoQuant analyst BorisD noted in a Friday Quicktake post that this reflects a “surge in aggressive market sell orders,” stating:
“This dynamic increases the likelihood of heightened short-term volatility and puts ETH’s current support levels at risk of being retested.”
ETH taker buy volume on Binance. Source: CryptoQuant
Ether’s rising wedge pattern is breaking down
The daily chart confirms that the ETH/USD pair is now validating a rising wedge breakdown after falling below the pattern’s lower trendline support at $2,300.
Bullish traders are currently defending the $2,150–$2,200 zone, which aligns with the 100-day and 50-week simple moving averages (SMAs), respectively.
A critical psychological support level sits at $2,000. If this level fails, it could open the door for Ether to decline toward the wedge’s projected target of $1,830—approximately 20% below its current price.
ETH/USD daily price chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView
As previously reported by Cointelegraph, ETH could fall further to the $1,750–$1,850 range if it fails to reclaim the $2,300 support level in the near term.
