Ethereum entered the new week in a fragile position, trading near $3,160 after a brief bounce from the $3,000 area. The move lifted the price by about 3.5% from the recent low, yet broader market sentiment still leans cautious as investors track leverage, ETF flows, and key technical levels.
Ether started the new week at a low of $3,160 following a small recovery after hitting a range of $3,000. The action increased the price by approximately 3.5% since the recent low, but the overall mood in the market remains rather conservative as the investors are monitoring leverage, ETF flows, and major technical levels.
Many traders now question whether this rebound marks the start of a sustained recovery or sets up a classic bull trap around the $3,000 support zone.
Ethereum recently slipped under $3,500 and failed to reclaim that level with conviction. Price then retreated toward $3,100, where buyers stepped in and pushed it back above $3,150. Over the last 24 hours, ETH gained around 2%, but it still trades lower on the week, reflecting ongoing selling pressure.
Technical structure remains fragile. Since October, the chart has not printed a clear V-shaped recovery. Instead, ETH shows a pattern of lower highs and lower lows that keeps momentum tilted to the downside. Traders now treat the $3,000 - $3,060 zone as a critical demand area that needs to hold to avoid a deeper move.
At the same time, Ethereum trades inside a broad symmetrical triangle that has developed since the August highs. A rising trendline from the April breakout still supports the price from below, while a firm descending trendline caps every rally. ETH sits near the apex of this pattern, where markets often prepare for a decisive move.
Additionally, positioning data shows that traders continue to rotate capital toward Ethereum from Bitcoin. Bitcoin dominance recently failed to break above 60%, while ETH dominance moved back above 12% with several days of gains. The ETH/BTC pair also bounced around 3% from the 0.032 level, which signals a modest shift in preference toward ETH.
Derivatives markets reinforce that view. On major exchanges, ETH perpetual futures show more than 70% of positions on the long side across several timeframes. Open interest in Ethereum jumped by about $2 billion in under three days, while Bitcoin open interest grew far more slowly. This gap suggests that traders add leverage more aggressively to ETH than BTC.
However, ETF flows tell a different story. Ethereum funds have recorded only brief periods of inflows in recent weeks, followed by larger outflows. One recent session saw about $177.9 million leave an ETH ETF, while BlackRock reportedly sold roughly $173.3 million worth of ETH exposure. These moves indicate that some institutional investors continue to reduce risk.
On-chain activity also reflects mixed confidence. A large Ethereum holder recently transferred 3,000 ETH back to an exchange and accepted a realized loss of several million dollars. That move pushed realized profit and loss metrics deeper into negative territory and signaled capitulation from at least part of the so-called smart money cohort.
Technical analysts now focus on a small set of clear levels. On the downside, they highlight support near $3,060 and then the psychological $3,000 mark. If Ethereum loses that band, charts point to potential downside targets around $2,632 and $2,192, where earlier liquidity clusters sit.
https://x.com/TedPillows/status/1989982147797827931?s=20
On the upside, resistance appears near $3,400–$3,500 and then around $3,653. Many traders treat a daily close above $3,653 as the level that would break the current bearish structure. Such a move would also allow ETH to reclaim the 20-day moving average and shift attention toward higher targets. Until price resolves away from the $3,000 area, market participants will continue to treat the current rebound with caution.