Mounting pressure on the Ethereum price continues as three major investment firms transferred over $40 million in ETH to exchanges within a single 24-hour period, signaling potential further declines.
On-chain data from April 16 indicated significant movements: Polychain Capital deposited approximately 5,700 ETH ($9.2 million), Galaxy Digital moved 12,500 ETH ($20.3 million), and B2C2 transferred 6,540 ETH ($10.7 million) to trading platforms. These large-scale transfers suggest increased selling intent from institutional players.
This sell-off coincides with ETH breaking below the critical $1,600 support level, which now acts as resistance. Technical indicators largely signal caution; most moving averages suggest selling, while the RSI at 38.9 shows weak momentum, though not yet oversold. A potential short-term bounce might be indicated by the MACD, but overall market sentiment remains wary.
[Ethereum technical analysis]
Failure to reclaim the $1,600–$1,620 range could see the Ethereum price target $1,500 or even $1,450. Conversely, a rebound from current levels could initiate a brief relief rally towards $1,700, where substantial resistance is expected.
Bearish sentiment is echoed by on-chain metrics. Ethereum’s total value locked (TVL) has decreased significantly from about $70 billion at the start of the year to $46 billion. Monthly network revenue also saw a sharp decline, falling from $109 million in January to just $7.2 million by March.
The blockchain faces growing competition from rivals like Solana (SOL), Base, and Tron (TRX), which are attracting more users and revenue. Even prominent DeFi applications such as Uniswap (UNI) show stronger performance on competing networks, highlighting shifting dynamics in the decentralized ecosystem.
Adding to the concerns are outflows from U.S. spot Ether ETFs, which saw $14 million withdrawn on April 15, contributing to a total net outflow of $158 million over the past month, according to market data aggregators.
This follows a difficult Q1 2025 for ETH, where the digital asset dropped 45%, marking its third-worst quarterly performance since 2016. With substantial selling from large holders and weakening fundamental indicators, Ethereum faces a challenging path to recovery.