ETH Stuck Below $2.4K Despite Wider Crypto Market Recovery

Crypto Ethereum

ETH Stuck Below $2.4K Despite Wider Crypto Market Recovery

• A 50% drop in exchange activity and decentralized application revenue is stalling Ether price growth.
• Institutional investor interest in Ether remains under pressure as major holders like Bitmine face billions in unrealized losses.

Ether (ETH) has failed to sustain levels above $2,400 for the past three months, consistently lagging behind most of its peers. Ether‘s down 21% in 2026, and investors have expressed uncertainty about the altcoin’s inability to mirror the broader market recovery.

The total cryptocurrency market capitalization is down 11% year-to-date, suggesting specific headwinds for Ether remain in play. A decline in decentralized applications (DApps) activity partially explains this fading interest. Regardless of whether this trend has affected the industry as a whole, the shift negatively affects ETH price formation.

Decentralized exchanges (DEX) volumes fell by 53% in six months, a sector largely responsible for Ethereums DApps activity. Consequently, these DApps experienced a 49% decline in revenue over the same period. While the sharp drop in memecoin prices and token launches contributed to reduced DEX appeal, other factors, including protocol hacks, also played a significant role.

Multiple hacks had a negative impact on DApp activity

The cryptocurrency industry suffered in April, with KelpDAO and Drift Protocol accounting for 82% of the losses. Blockchain security company Hacken attributed the attacks to actors linked to the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK). Aggregate crypto industry DEX activity dropped by 47% in three months.

Some Ethereum competitors have opted for base layer scalability, providing less friction for regular users. While Ethereum remains the absolute leader in the aggregate ecosystem, including its layer-2 solutions, Solana and Hyperliquid account for a combined 42% market share in DApp revenue. Such data is even more impressive given that Ethereums total value locked is six times larger.

Uttam Singh, engineer at Alchemy, noted that part of the market incorrectly judged that Ethereums upcoming Glamsterdam hard fork would put rollups “in danger.” The upcoming network upgrade should result in a threefold increase in base-layer capacity and allow clients to pre-fetch block data, thereby enabling parallel transaction execution.

Fierce blockchain competition, ETH whales underwater

Regardless of how straightforward Ethereums scaling plans are, most users and investors struggle to understand the need for layer-2 rollups once reaches a certain threshold. There is also limited visibility on whether these changes will actually generate higher network fees, which ultimately act as a catalyst for higher staking yields.

Institutional investors‘ perception of Ether has also been negatively impacted as Bitmine (BMNR US), the of ETH, remains underwater in its corporate reserves. The company, led by chairman Tom Lee, spent $12.2 billion to acquire ETH, but its position is currently valued at $10.8 billion. While this does not pose an immediate sell-off risk, it reduces the asset’s institutional appeal.

None of these factors is an absolute impediment for Ether price to reach $2,800. However, declining onchain activity, fierce competition in the DApps industry, and reduced institutional appeal continue to contribute to its underperformance relative to the broader crypto market.

This article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraphs Editorial Policy and is intended for informational purposes only. It does not constitute investment advice or recommendations. All investments and trades carry risk; readers are encouraged to conduct independent research.