Ether is trading around $2,080 after failing to hold gains above $2,200 this week. The rejection came as global risk sentiment soured, driven by the ongoing Iran conflict and a US court ruling requiring the government to repay over $130 billion in tariff refunds to American businesses.
ETH had recovered 22% from its February low of $1,800, but that momentum stalled quickly. A 6% drop followed a brief push to $2,200 on Wednesday, mirroring a pullback in US equities.
The 30-day futures annualized premium for ETH is sitting well below the 5% neutral threshold. That signals weak demand for bullish leverage among traders.
The ETH options skew (put-call) reached 7% on Thursday. When this metric climbs above 6%, it typically means professional traders are buying protection against price drops.
ETH also saw $58 million in liquidations in 24 hours, with $35.7 million coming from long positions, according to CoinGlass data.
The price weakness was matched by ETF data. On March 5, US spot Ethereum ETFs recorded a total net outflow of $91 million, reflecting a pullback in institutional appetite on the day.
On March 5 Eastern Time, Bitcoin spot ETFs recorded a total net outflow of $228 million. Ethereum spot ETFs recorded a total net outflow of $90.9365 million. https://t.co/Hj2Gs49bWa pic.twitter.com/U9ROciWqe9
— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) March 6, 2026
This followed a period of stronger inflows earlier in the week, showing how quickly sentiment can shift in line with broader market conditions.
The validator entry queue, however, told a different story. It climbed to roughly 3.4 million ETH, while the exit queue fell to just 58,944 ETH. Wait times to become a validator have stretched to 57 days.
This suggests large holders are staking ETH for yield rather than selling during volatile periods.
Weekly DEX volumes on Ethereum dropped to $12.6 billion, down from $20.2 billion a month earlier. DApp revenues fell to $14.1 million over seven days, a 47% decline from the prior month.
Solana saw a similar trend, with DEX volumes falling 50% over the same 30-day window.
Despite weaker onchain activity, Ethereum still dominates total value locked. Including layer-2 networks, the Ethereum ecosystem holds about 65% of total blockchain TVL. The base layer alone holds $55.4 billion, compared to Solana’s $6.8 billion.
Resistance sits at $2,108 on the daily chart. A close above that level could open the path toward $2,388. If support at $1,741 breaks, the next levels are $1,524 and $1,404.
The lower support target from the current range structure sits at $1,826, which analysts identify as the next technical magnet if selling pressure continues.
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