Ethereum traded near $2,478 on Aug. 25 after gaining roughly 30% over the prior seven days, but an overbought daily reading and a wall of leveraged positions clustered around $2,500-$2,550 could decide whether the rally extends toward $3,000 or gives way to a deeper pullback.
Ethereum holds most of its 30% weekly gain
Ethereum (ETH) traded at approximately $2,478 at the time of writing, easing from an intraday high of $2,532. The asset remains roughly 29% above its Aug. 19 opening price of $1,916.
The rally carried ETH through $2,000, $2,200, and $2,400 in less than a week, reversing a long stretch of subdued trading. Ethereum had largely moved between $1,800 and $1,950 during the first half of August before the breakout began.
Meanwhile, the initial move coincided with a large derivatives reset. CoinGlass data showed short sellers across the crypto market lost nearly $2.7 billion within 24 hours, while total liquidations approached $3 billion. Ethereum accounted for about $1.1 billion of the forced closures, according to separate reports citing the same dataset.
US ETF inflows support Ethereum demand
US-listed spot Ethereum ETFs recorded $697.2 million in net inflows during the five trading sessions through Aug. 21, their strongest weekly result of 2026. US spot Bitcoin funds attracted another $1.918 billion over the same period, taking combined inflows for the two groups to approximately $2.6 billion.
The rally also followed the US Treasury's Aug. 19 decision to raise the maximum size of its longer-dated bond buybacks, with operations covering 10-to-30-year securities set to rise from $2 billion to at least $4 billion starting Sept. 9. However, that increase has not yet taken effect, so the announcement coincided with the crypto rally rather than delivering an immediate injection of Treasury liquidity.
Daily RSI signals overheated momentum
Ethereum's daily chart turned bullish after price cleared all four major moving averages, trading above the 20-day, 50-day, 100-day, and 200-day averages. Still, the daily RSI stood at 79.12, well above the conventional overbought threshold of 70, while its signal average had climbed to 67.06.
CoinGlass's three-day liquidation heatmap shows the most visible upside liquidity sitting between approximately $2,540 and $2,570, with further clusters extending toward $2,600-$2,630. Crypto analyst Ted Pillows identified $2,500-$2,550 as the main resistance zone. According to Ted Pillows: "A weekly close above this zone and Ethereum will pump straight to $3,000."
Next, the heatmap also shows substantial downside liquidity between $2,410 and $2,450, a zone that could draw price back down if ETH is rejected from $2,500. Ethereum enters its next weekly close between a clear breakout level and an overextended momentum reading.
Source: crypto.news
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