Ethereum Price News: What Needs to Happen to Push ETH back to $3K

Ethereum (ETH) has dropped by 3.5% in the past 24 hours after yesterday’s big jump and it is once again losing the $2,000 psychological support.

Trading volumes kept rising as the token encountered a sell wall at $2,150. Data from CoinMarketCap shows that volumes jumped by 30% in the past 24 hours, rising to nearly 12% of the asset’s circulating market cap.

Investors poured $157 million yesterday into exchange-traded funds (ETFs) linked to this token as ETH bounced back from $1,800. This has been the largest single-day inflow that these products have received in two weeks and could be an early sign of a shift in sentiment.

The Fear and Greed Index also recovered from 11 to 16, and is getting closer to step out of the “Extreme Fear” zone.

ETH Daily Liquidations – Source: CoinGlass

Daily short liquidations for ETH yesterday was the second-highest on record in the past 90 days, implying strong bearish positioning above the $2,000 mark.

Market makers are now sure that significant liquidity lies above this psychological threshold, which increases the odds that they will push this relief rally further to prompt a short squeeze.

Volumes Have Not Yet Confirmed a Trend Reversal

Data from Santiment shows that volumes have dried up since early December as the 7-day moving average crossed below the 30-day MA.

We can see how previous bullish and bearish crossovers between these two lines have been good early predictors of strong uptrends and downtrends.

ETH Volumes (Moving Averages) – Source: Santiment

The last crossover we got took place in late November 2025, back when ETH was trading at around $3,330. The 7-day MA moved below the 30-day MA back then, anticipating a total loss of 42%.

Before that, a bullish crossover in July 2025 predicted the beginning of a strong bull market that pushed ETH from $3,370 (the signal) to its latest all-time high of $4,760 for a 41.2% gain.

We are keeping an eye on this metric moving forward as it appears to feature a nice win rate for swing positions.

Since volumes are not yet confirming a change in the prevailing trend, we need further evidence before calling out a cycle “bottom” at $1,800.

ETH Needs to Stay Above $2K to Keep Rallying

Looking at the daily chart, ETH is now confined in a tight range between $2,150 and $1,800. This means that the token could spend a while in sideways consolidation mode before the next big move happen.

ETH/USD Daily Chart – Source: TradingView

The Relative Strength Index (RSI) sent an early buy signal as it moved above the 14-day moving average. However, it still stands near 40, meaning that momentum is still on the side of bears.

If the price makes another decisive move above $2,000, we could expect a bullish breakout above $2,150 in the near term that could possibly ignite a real relief rally with a target to $3,000.

Meanwhile, if we lose the $2,000 level for good, the odds favor a drop to $1,800 again. That’s not a good thing as it means that buying pressure is still not strong enough to keep the price above this mark.

As a result, market makers need to push the price down to previous demand zones. However, since these have already been tagged multiple times, order blocks may have been drained already, increasing the odds of a bearish breakout.