3-9-2025 – Ether (ETH) has maintained a price around $4,300 following a 15% drop from its August 24 all-time high, even as broader market corrections tied to deteriorating macroeconomic factors weigh on sentiment. The cryptocurrency’s resilience stems from robust on-chain metrics, with Ethereum’s network fees jumping 30% over the past week to surpass Tron as the top-grossing blockchain, reaching $16.3 million including layer-2 solutions—more than double Solana’s figure.
In August, Ethereum decentralized applications generated $466 million in fees, up 36% from July, driven by leaders like Lido ($91.7 million), Uniswap ($91.2 million), and Aave ($82.9 million), according to DefiLlama data. This growth contrasts with declines on rival networks such as Solana (down 10%) and BNB Chain (down 57%). External pressures, including U.S. President Donald Trump’s critical comments on U.S.-India trade relations after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meetings with Chinese and Russian leaders, contributed to investor pullbacks, alongside a 1.3% Nasdaq decline and gold’s new record high fueled by central bank buying.
Derivatives data reveals trader skepticism, with a 5% monthly futures premium indicating neutral-to-bearish positioning and options skew at 3% showing balanced expectations for price swings, per Laevitas.ch. However, open interest in ETH futures has climbed 26% to $58.5 billion in 30 days, suggesting sustained interest.
Institutional momentum adds support: corporations accumulated 2 million ETH over the past month, bringing combined holdings of firms like Bitmine Immersion Tech, SharpLink Gaming, and The Ether Machine to 4.71 million ETH worth over $20.2 billion, as tracked by StrategicETHReserve.xyz. ETHZilla’s recent commitments to Ethereum-based DApps highlight emerging real-world deployments.Â
