By Guest 
Ethereum’s price recently fell 12% after failing to break the $2,650 resistance, erasing gains from the past two weeks. This decline has dampened the bullish sentiment that followed its breach of the $3,000 support two months ago.
According to CoinTelegraph, traders are questioning whether Ethereum can rebound to $2,800. What conditions are necessary for ETH to reverse its current trend and outperform the crypto market?
Ethereum Drops 12% in Two Days
Despite Ethereum’s ⮟ ETH: $2408.57 5% decline since September 1, the overall crypto market cap has grown by 1.4%. Additionally, the launch of Ethereum spot ETFs in the U.S. in July disappointed investors, losing $552 million in net capital. However, this isn’t the sole reason for Ethereum’s decline; investor sentiment has turned bearish.
Some attribute Ethereum’s price weakness to ongoing sell pressure from Vitalik Buterin and the Ethereum Foundation. Others point to decreased demand for decentralized applications on the Ethereum network. Multiple factors appear to be keeping Ethereum’s price below $2,800.
Ethereum enthusiasts expected it to be deflationary, but this hasn’t materialized over the past five months as the token’s issuance rate remains positive. Buterin suggests optimizing data storage, proposing a reduction in block size from 2.7 MB to 1 MB.
Complicating Ethereum’s outlook, a participant from its ICO recently sold about 31,000 ETH after nearly a decade. This investor had acquired 150,000 ETH during the ICO. In August, Buterin moved roughly $10 million in ETH to exchanges, presumably to support various Ethereum ecosystem projects. The Ethereum Foundation also transferred over $207 million in ETH to exchanges.
Ethereum Network Activity Decline
Current data doesn’t suggest Ethereum will underperform the broader market. Key performance indicators, such as total value locked (TVL) in smart contracts and overall decentralized app (dApp) volume, remain strong.
Ethereum continues to lead with $26.2 billion in trading volume. Notably, active addresses increased by 27% and trading volume by 41% over the past week. In contrast, the BNB Chain lost 15% of its users, and TON network saw a 35% drop in active addresses.
The trading volume surge of 33% for Uniswap and 122% for Balancer has contributed to this. Additionally, Curve’s trading volume grew by 143%, indicating significant user interaction. EigenLayer led with a 114% increase in active addresses, and Etherfi’s user base nearly quadrupled.
Despite these strengths, Ethereum’s path to reclaiming $2,800 isn’t directly tied to dApp activity. For a new upward trend, Ethereum also requires an overall market improvement.