If ETH ‘pullback continues,’ a $3K retrace remains in play — Analyst

Ethereum’s price may remain range-bound between two key psychological levels in the near term as it continues to face difficulty holding above the $4,000 price level, according to a crypto analyst.

“Ethereum continues to struggle with the psychological resistance of $4000,” pseudonymous crypto trader Rekt Capital said in a Dec. 20 market report. Over the past 30 days, Ether has climbed above $4,000 several times, with a peak of $4,077 on Dec. 6, but hasn't been able to hold the price level, according to CoinMarketCap data.

ETH may consolidate between 2 psychological levels

Rekt said that $3,000 has now become "psychological support,” for Ether ETHUSD, a level that Ether last touched on Nov 9. Before that, Ether had been trading below $3,000 since Aug. 3.

Rekt said that Ether may consolidate between $3,000 and $4,000 in the near term. However, he suggested it is also possible that its current price of $3,466 could dip more than 10% in the short term, approaching the $3,000 region.

Rekt said, “it will be worth watching whether indeed ETH could form a bottom in and around that area as that would give rise to a potential right shoulder to develop for an overall inverse head and shoulders formation.”

The head-and-shoulders pattern is a reversal pattern that can signal a change in trend direction. Analysts have been pointing to various factors such as lack of Ethereum supply on crypto exchanges and increasing inflows into spot Ether exchange-traded funds (ETF) as potential catalysts for strong price momentum.

On Dec. 17, Cointelegraph reported that data from onchain market intelligence firm CryptoQuant shows ETH balances on exchanges reached an 8.5-year low of 9.2 million ETH, down nearly 10% over the last year.

Meanwhile, some analysts are optimistic that spot Ether ETF inflows are gaining momentum and could outperform Bitcoin ETFs in 2025.

Analysts expect Ether ETF uptrend to continue

Spot Ether ETFs have clocked a total of approximately $2.43 billion since launching in the United States on July 23, according to Farside data.

Analysts expect this uptrend to continue into 2025, especially if regulators allow the funds to generate yields from staking.

Asset manager VanEck estimates Ether’s spot price will reach $6,000 by the fourth quarter of 2025. 

When spot Ether ETFs launched in July, there was optimism among crypto market participants that Ether might perform similarly to Bitcoin after the launch of spot Bitcoin ETFs in January.

However, the initial weak inflows by comparison meant that expectations of Ether surpassing its all-time high and reaching $5,000 by year-end became more unlikely.