Ethereum has seen a dramatic slump in the past few days, with its price plummeting after a failed attempt to break through the $2,500 barrier.
Currently, the altcoin is testing critical support levels around $2,000, extending its losses for the year to a staggering 36%. If it continues to fall, Ethereum is on track to record its worst-ever first quarter performance, with some analysts predicting that a dip below $1,600 could make this its most disastrous quarter yet.
In a little over three days, Ethereum’s price dropped more than 14%, with significant liquidations pushing $209 million in the last 24 hours alone. After starting 2025 strong at around $3,300, the cryptocurrency has seen a major retreat, leaving many investors concerned.
A major whale, reportedly shorting Ethereum with significant leverage, has made massive profits from this decline. In fact, the whale’s unrealized gains have surpassed $81 million as the price continues to drop.
The situation has worsened for Ethereum’s ETFs, particularly BlackRock’s iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA), which has experienced over $164 million in outflows since February.
This lack of institutional confidence is evident, with ETHA shares down nearly 40% since the start of the year. Peter Schiff, a notable critic of cryptocurrency, expressed skepticism, claiming that Ethereum still has far to fall despite short-term hype.
Grayscale has taken a significant step by filing an S-1 form with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to transition its Solana Trust into an exchange-traded fund (ETF).
Coinbase is making moves to expand its crypto derivatives offerings by filing with the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to introduce futures contracts for XRP.
Retail investors are increasingly favoring XRP over Bitcoin, as Glassnode data shows a dramatic 490% increase in XRP’s daily active addresses, compared to just 10% for Bitcoin since the 2022 market low.
Fidelity Investments has moved forward with plans to launch a spot Solana Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF), with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) formally acknowledging the filing.