Ethereum Drops 1.76% to $1,577 Amid Bearish Momentum

Ethereum (ETH) has recently experienced a significant price fluctuation, reaching a peak of $1,690 before falling below the $1,600 mark. As of April 16, 2025, the cryptocurrency is trading at $1,577, marking a 1.76% decline in the last 24 hours. This price movement has raised questions about the strength of buyer support and the overall market sentiment surrounding Ethereum.

Ethereum's recent price action began with a strong base above $1,550, following Bitcoin’s momentum. The cryptocurrency pushed past key resistance levels at $1,600 and $1,620, eventually peaking near $1,690. However, selling pressure soon emerged, causing Ethereum to slide below the $1,600 support level. This decline broke through a connecting bullish trend line with support at $1,625, suggesting weakening bullish momentum.

Market analyst Ali Marteniz observed that ETH had been showing strength after breaking out of an ascending triangle pattern. This bullish chart formation typically indicates strong buyer demand, especially when accompanied by sustained volume. However, the price retraced to the 50% Fibonacci level of the rise from the swing bottom at $1,472 to the recent high at $1,690. ETH now trades below both the $1,625 price mark and the 100-hour Simple Moving Average.

On the upside, Ethereum faces strong resistance near $1,590, representing both a technical hurdle and psychological level. If buyers manage to push past this mark, the next targets would be $1,640 and then $1,650. A confirmed break above $1,650 could trigger another rally, potentially sending prices back to the recent high of $1,690 or even higher to $1,750. Support levels to watch include $1,555 and $1,525. If these fail to hold, ETH could test lower support at $1,450 or even $1,420.

Technical indicators currently show bearish momentum, with the Relative Strength Index (RSI) on the daily chart reading 40, below the neutral level of 50. Some analysts have raised concerns that Ethereum has re-entered a multi-year bearish range, now hovering near its midpoint—a critical area with no immediate bullish signals. If buyers fail to step in soon, a drop below $1,000 could be on the horizon. This would mark the first time ETH has traded below this psychological level in years.

Despite the price challenges, Ethereum continues to dominate the decentralized application (DApp) space. In Q1 2025, Ethereum generated an impressive $1.021 billion in fee revenue, far outpacing competitors. The nearest rival, managed $193 million, followed by at $170 million. and C-Chain trailed with $73.8 million and $27.68 million respectively. Ethereum’s first-mover advantage in supporting smart contracts, strong security profile, and large ecosystem with over 4,983 active applications across DeFi, NFTs, and gaming industries help maintain its leading position among blockchains.

According to DefiLlama, Ethereum-based DeFi systems currently have $46 billion in Total Value Locked (TVL), representing 51% of the entire DeFi market. While mainnet gas fees remain a concern for many users, the Dencun upgrade implemented in 2024 has helped improve throughput by lowering costs on Layer-2 networks and increasing scalability.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has been focusing on privacy amid the market volatility. In a recent blog post, Buterin warned that assumptions about openness and good intentions in global politics are becoming increasingly false. “Privacy is freedom,” stated Buterin, expressing concerns about growing corporate and governmental authority. Having experienced his own lack of privacy, he noted, “every single action I take outside has some nonzero chance of unexpectedly becoming a public media story.”

Buterin proposed several privacy-enhancing solutions based primarily on zero-knowledge proofs (ZK-proofs), which allow “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 Ethereum ecosystem is also looking ahead to upcoming network upgrades. The Pectra upgrade, scheduled for May 7, is expected to be Ethereum’s most substantial update since Dencun in early 2024. This upgrade aims to deliver improved scalability, lower costs, enhanced security, and smart accounts to the network. Following Pectra, Ethereum’s roadmap includes the Fusaka and “Glamesome” improvements, which could provide technological advancements to support future price recovery.

Vitalik Buterin recently hinted that future network upgrades could arrive faster, noting “a lot of willingness to do faster hard forks post-Pectra with near-zero pushback.” For traders and investors, the current price action presents a critical juncture. A break above $1,700 would signal renewed bullish momentum, while failure to hold current support levels could lead to further downside. As of writing, Ethereum trades at $1,577, down 2.4% over the past 24 hours, as market participants closely watch for signs of either a breakthrough to higher levels or continued correction to lower supports.