TLDR
- Ethereum (ETH) recently spiked to $1,690 before declining below $1,600 support level
- Currently trading at around $1,577, down by 1.76-3.32% in recent trading
- Technical analysts warn of potential breakdown below $1,000 if support fails
- Vitalik Buterin is emphasizing privacy as a priority for Ethereum development
- Despite price challenges, Ethereum generated over $1 billion in DApp fee revenue in Q1 2025
Ethereum (ETH) has fallen below the $1,600 support level after reaching a high of $1,690, raising concerns about its future price trajectory. The second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization is currently trading at $1,577, showing a decrease of around 2.4% in the past 24 hours.
The decline comes after ETH formed a strong base above $1,550 before starting an upward move. Following Bitcoin’s momentum, Ethereum surged past key resistance levels at $1,600 and $1,620, eventually peaking at $1,690.
However, this increase was short-lived as selling pressure emerged, pushing the price below the $1,600 support level. A bullish trend line with support at $1,625 was breached, signaling possible short-term bearish sentiment in the market.
Market analyst Ali Marteniz observed that ETH had been growing stronger after breaking out of an ascending triangle pattern, a bullish chart formation suggesting strong buyer demand. Despite this earlier positive signal, the current price action indicates weakening momentum.
#Ethereum $ETH is breaking out of an ascending triangle in the hourly chart! pic.twitter.com/4CXEgxFaXo
— Ali (@ali_charts) April 16, 2025
Technical Analysis Points to Continued Weakness
ETH retraced to the 50% level of the rise from the swing bottom at $1,472 to the recent high at $1,690. The price is now trading below both the $1,625 mark and the 100-hour Simple Moving Average, indicating that bullish momentum is no longer dominant in the short term.
Ethereum faces resistance near $1,590, which serves as both a technical hurdle and psychological level. If buyers push past this mark, the next targets would be at $1,640 and then $1,650.
A confirmed break above $1,650 could trigger another push toward the recent high of $1,690. However, the current technical setup appears to favor the bears.
The daily chart shows bearish momentum with a Relative Strength Index (RSI) of 40, below the neutral level of 50. Ethereum has re-entered a multi-year trading range and is currently positioned at the channel midpoint.
Buterin Prioritizes Privacy Amid Market Volatility
While ETH prices fluctuate, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin is focusing on privacy enhancements for the network. In a recent blog post, Buterin emphasized that privacy should be a first priority in development initiatives.
“Privacy is freedom,” stated Buterin, expressing concerns about increasing corporate and governmental authority. Having experienced his own lack of privacy, he noted that “every single action I take outside has some nonzero chance of unexpectedly becoming a public media story.”
Buterin proposed several privacy-enhancing solutions based mainly on zero-knowledge proofs (ZK-proofs), which allow for “fine-grained control of who can see what information.” These include privacy pools for ethical anonymization and ZK-proof-based proof of personhood systems.
The push for privacy comes at a time when the cryptocurrency market faces increased scrutiny from regulators worldwide. Buterin’s focus suggests that privacy features may become a key differentiator for Ethereum in the future.
DApp Revenue Shows Ethereum’s Ecosystem Strength
Despite price challenges, Ethereum continues to dominate the decentralized application (DApp) space. In Q1 2025, the network generated $1.021 billion in fee revenue, far exceeding its competitors.
Layer-2 network Base (Coinbase’s Layer-2) came in second at $193 million, followed by BNB Chain ($170 million), Arbitrum ($73.8 million), and Avalanche C-Chain ($27.68 million).
Ethereum’s first-mover advantage in supporting smart contracts, strong security profile, and large DApp ecosystem with over 4,983 active applications across DeFi, NFTs, and gaming industries help maintain its leading position among blockchains.
According to DefiLlama, Ethereum’s DeFi systems have $46 billion in Total Value Locked (TVL), representing 51% of the entire DeFi market.
Although mainnet gas fees remain a concern for many users, the Dencun upgrade implemented in 2024 has helped improve Ethereum’s throughput by lowering costs on Layer-2 networks and increasing scalability.
The upcoming Pectra upgrade, scheduled for May 7, is expected to be Ethereum’s most important update since Dencun. This upgrade aims to bring better scalability, lower costs, enhanced security, and smart accounts to the network.
Based on Pectra, Ethereum’s roadmap includes the Fusaka and “Glamesome” improvements, which could provide technological developments to support future price recovery.
