On March 4, Ether (ETH) plunged to a new yearly low, bottoming out at $1,996 – its lowest price since November 2023. Over the past 24 hours, the market saw around $100 million worth of Ethereum positions liquidated, while ETH’s open interest (OI) across all exchanges fell by 10.31%.

ETH/USDT Daily Chart | Source: TradingView

Is this an ideal buying opportunity or a sign of an endless downtrend?
As the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency, Ether is generating mixed opinions in the community. Ethereum’s Pectra upgrade was deployed on the Sepolia testnet on March 5, and according to IntoTheBlock analyst Gabriel Halm, this could help alleviate the recent selling pressure on ETH. Earlier this week, Halm noted:

“While Ethereum’s upcoming Pectra upgrade won’t necessarily spark an immediate price surge, it does mark a significant step forward in improving the Ethereum ecosystem.”

Similarly, crypto analyst Louie compared Ethereum’s current bearish state to Bitcoin in 2023. He argued that both assets have similar price structures, market sentiment, and drivers, which could help ETH replicate the bullish pattern BTC experienced last year.

In contrast, market analyst Matthew Hyland suggested that Ethereum has likely entered a bear market. With ETH having gone through 357 consecutive days of losses, Hyland believes that there is no correlation between BTC and ETH in the current market. He noted:

Ethereum vs Bitcoin comparison chart | Source: X

“Up until a year ago, everything went up in a bull market and down in a bear market. That’s not the case anymore.”

In addition, he also emphasized that ETH’s bottom could mark the start of the next cycle.

Meanwhile, a “double top” pattern has been confirmed on both the weekly and monthly charts, increasing the risk of a sharper correction for the altcoin. Analyst Nebraskangooner shared with his 379,900 followers that, according to this pattern, the target price after the breakout is estimated at around $1,200, which represents a further 42% drop from the current ETH price.

Only 26% of Ethereum addresses are in profit
From December 1, 2024 to March 4, 2025, Ethereum’s price fell by 50% in just 78 days. While such sharp corrections are common for small-cap cryptocurrencies, ETH has lost more than $250 billion in market capitalization during this time.

The sharp drop has certainly had a significant impact on investors. According to data from IntoTheBlock, only 26% of the 36.92 million ETH held in wallets are in profit. Notably, a whopping 70% of addresses are in the “out of the money” position, while only 4.46% are at break-even.

Profitable Operating Locations | Source: IntoTheBlock

From a technical perspective, Ethereum’s weekly close has been below a 980-day uptrend line, dating back to the previous cycle’s low in June 2022. A break below this uptrend line has signaled a long-term trend reversal, which could be a warning sign for bulls.

However, the altcoin has rebounded strongly over the past 24 hours, jumping 12% from a low of $1,996 to over $2,242.

ETH/USDT Weekly Chart | Source: TradingView

The relative strength index (RSI) has also dropped to multi-year lows, further reinforcing Ethereum’s long-term bearish trend. However, this could also signal a weakening of short-term selling pressure, leading to temporary price rallies.