Ether is clinging to a support level that could determine whether its months-long slide stabilizes or deepens, with the token trading near $2.25K after a failed breakout attempt earlier this week sent prices back toward $2.2K.
The retreat comes as institutional demand shows signs of softening. Clients of BlackRock's Ethereum exchange-traded fund reportedly shed about $75.20 million of exposure, according to market commentary citing fund flow data. The figure was not broken down by trading date, and it is unclear whether it reflects a single session or a longer stretch.
On the daily chart, ETH broke below the ascending channel that had guided it higher from June lows near $1.5K. After peaking close to $2.8K in late September, the asset slipped through the channel's midpoint and lost its lower boundary in late October, a clear weakening of the medium-term structure. A subsequent rebound tested the $2.5K supply zone, which now overlaps the broken trendline, but sellers rejected the move, turning former support into resistance.
Buyers are now defending $2.2K, the late-October low. Reclaiming $2.5K would be the first step toward restoring the bullish case and bringing the $2.8K-$3K supply zone back into view. A decisive daily close below $2.2K, by contrast, would confirm the channel breakdown and expose the $1.85K demand zone, the consolidation area that preceded August's sharp rally. Below that, $1.5K remains the major floor as the base of the recovery that began in June.
The 4-hour chart shows ETH locked in a descending channel since early October, printing lower highs and lower lows. An attempted push above the channel's upper boundary earlier this week briefly lifted the price toward $2.5K before a sharp sell-off dragged it back inside the structure, trapping late buyers and reinforcing the bearish short-term picture.
If buyers keep holding $2.2K, a relief bounce toward the upper channel boundary around $2.3K is possible. Breaking that trendline and then $2.5K would be needed to invalidate the failed breakout and open the way to the $2.7K order block. A breakdown below $2.2K would likely send the price toward the channel's lower boundary near $2K, and repeated tests of that level raise the risk of failure.
Network usage offers little support for a rebound. CryptoQuant's Transactions Between EOA metric, which tracks transfers between wallets controlled by private keys rather than smart contracts or exchanges, rose from roughly 400K in 2024 to about 600K by late 2025 before surging toward 1.3M in the first half of 2026. That expansion came while ETH fell toward $1.5K, showing activity and price do not always move together. Since August the 30-day exponential moving average has collapsed to approximately 560K, near its lowest levels of the past year, and is only now stabilizing.
The reading warrants caution: transaction counts can be inflated or deflated by low-value automated transfers and fee conditions, and they do not directly measure buying demand. Still, the sharp contraction in wallet activity, combined with the loss of the daily channel, suggests the market lacks a strong catalyst, leaving $2.2K as the line buyers must hold.
ETF flows have become a closely watched gauge of institutional sentiment because they let traditional investors gain crypto exposure through ordinary brokerage accounts. Redemptions can reflect profit-taking, risk reduction or rotation into other assets rather than a verdict on Ether itself, and the fund's issuer is not necessarily making a bearish call. Whether the withdrawal marks the start of a broader trend will depend on flows across other Ethereum funds and the strength of demand in the wider market.
Key levels for traders to watch:
Note: Levels are drawn from daily and 4-hour chart analysis.
