Was the Ethereum rally a flash in the pan?
Written by Isaac Olatunji
Compiled: Vernacular Blockchain
Unless it's isolated, there is hardly anyone involved in crypto who hasn't noticed Ethereum's decline over the past few months. Price action, market dominance, and community sentiment – name it, it's all at all-time lows! The top cryptocurrency seems to be falling sharply – the cycle hasn't even hit new all-time highs. However, over the past few days, Ethereum seems to be rebounding. Why has it been sluggish for months? Can the current momentum push it back?
Ethereum's dilemma
Ethereum is struggling, there's no doubt about it. Since December 2024, whenever a shift in market sentiment causes the crypto market to fall as a whole, only Bitcoin has been able to rally back to its previous level and break through, while Ethereum has been able to barely return to square one after falling.
Here's how Ethereum has performed in recent months. In November 2024, the market is in an upward phase, with the price of Bitcoin at around $96,405 and Ethereum at $3,703. On December 1, 2024, there was a slight decline in the market, with Bitcoin falling to $93,557 and Ethereum falling to $3,337. Although both top cryptocurrencies reached significant levels later in the month, they failed to maintain their rally and fell again.
About a month later, on January 1, 2025, the Bitcoin price was $94,500, slightly higher than the previous month, while Ethereum fell further to $3,298. By February 1, price data showed a significant drop to $84,381 for Bitcoin and $2,236 for Ethereum. Bitcoin reached $102,000 later in the month, but Ethereum failed to rebound to its previous highs. Indeed, when Bitcoin recovered from $84,381 in February to $94,304 in April, Ethereum continued to fall and was unable to retest its previous highs. In fact, the BTC/ETH ratio has expanded, as shown in the chart data.
: CoinMarketCap
Ethereum is trading at around $2,400 at press time, which is a decent increase considering its performance in recent months. However, it has yet to hit the higher price range. What's wrong with the Ethereum market? Let's break down a few key points.
Bitcoin and meme coins steal the limelight
in recent months, and Bitcoin and meme coins steal the show. You may have heard the news that the U.S. government plans to set up a Bitcoin reserve. The plan is widely discussed among retail and institutional investors, and many U.S. state governments are also working on building strategic bitcoin reserves. Texas and New Hampshire have made progress in this regard, as have other states in the United States, as well as some other countries.
The interest of sovereigns has further attracted the attention of whales and institutional investors. Recently, Michael Saylor announced that Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) had made additional purchases of Bitcoin to cement its position as the public company with the most Bitcoin holdings. Out of a total supply of 21 million bitcoins, Strategy holds more than 555,000 bitcoins.
While Bitcoin takes center stage and overshadows Ethereum, meme coins are doing the same. Unfortunately, these meme coins were not launched on the Ethereum chain. One of the most successful meme coins in 2025, Fartcoin, with a market cap of over $1 billion, was launched on the Solana chain. PumpFun, a popular meme coin issuance platform, is also on Solana. You may not have noticed, but most of the hottest memeTokens created in late 2024 and 2025 are from PumpFun.