Ethereum price eyes new all-time highs, but will $15K be the top?

Ether ( ETH ) is poised to break its all-time high in the coming days after rising to a new year-to-date high of $4,108 on Dec. 16.

ETH price has gained 8% over the last week. The second largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization is up 28% over the last 30 days and 82% over the last year.

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows Ether’s price was trading at $4,000, about 18% shy of its all-time high of $4,891 set on Nov. 26, 2021.

ETH/USD daily chart. Source: Cointelegraph/ TradingView

Accompanying ETH’s performance on Dec. 17 is a 30% leap in daily trading volume, currently at $42 billion, which suggests that this rally has momentum.

But with Ether investment products seeing continuous inflows alongside other fundamental factors and onchain metrics, how high can the price go?

Decreasing ETH supply on exchanges

One factor supporting Ether’s upside is reducing supply on exchanges. Data from onchain market intelligence firm CryptoQuant shows ETH balances on exchanges reached an 8.5-year low of 9.2 million ETH, down nearly 10% over the last year.

ETH supply on exchanges. Source: CryptoQuant

The net flow to/from exchanges shows a steep decline since October 2023, when withdrawals from the trading platforms began to surge. This drop accompanies a 73% rise in Ether’s price over the same time period.

Ethereum whales grow in number

The decreasing supply on exchanges could be partially explained by a spike in accumulation by large holders over the last few weeks.

Notably, whale wallet holdings have reached their highest level ever, accounting for about 57% of all ETH in circulation.

“There are currently 104 whale wallets holding at least 100K Ethereum,” collectively holding about $333 billion, Santiment said in a Dec. 16 post on X. 

Wallets holding between 10 ETH and 100,000 ETH are at a historic low of 33.5%, and wallets holding less than 100 ETH have a supply ratio of just 9.19%, hitting a near four-year low, the analytics firm added.

“Ethereum’s largest 100K+ whale group owns an all-time high 83.81 million tokens, and the asset briefly returns above $4,000 market value.”

Ethereum supply distribution by tiers. Source: Santiment

This means that whales have not sold on the latest rally but have continued to accumulate. This may be a long-term bullish indication, especially if this trend continues.

Meanwhile, the daily average of new Ethereum addresses crossed 130,200 in December, marking an eight-month high, according to Santiment.

Source: Santiment

Also accompanying Ether’s bullish performance was an uptick in total open interest (OI) in the derivatives market, which increased from 9.8 billion ETH on Nov. 5 to an all-time high of 20.7 billion ETH on Dec. 17.

ETH open interest on all exchanges. Source: CryptoQuant

The chart above shows that Ether’s OI has jumped 24% in the past seven days, suggesting increased demand for leveraged ETH positions and new money entering the market overall.

Institutional demand for Ether products soars

Meanwhile, United States-based spot Ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have recorded positive inflows every day since Nov. 22. 

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The investment products recorded their biggest-ever day of inflows on Dec. 5, registering more than $428 million in inflows. Spot Ether ETFs saw cumulative inflows of $854.8 million during the week ending Dec. 13.

Spot Ether ETF flows. Source: SoSoValue

Overall, Ether exchange-traded products (ETPs) have continued gaining momentum, with the new inflows marking seven consecutive weeks of inflows in various Ether-based ETPs, totaling $3.7 billion.

Ether ETPs tracked by CoinShares provide exposure to the underlying asset, such as a market index or an individual investment, including spot Ether ETFs.

CoinShares head of research James Butterfill said that this marked a “dramatic improvement” in investor sentiment toward ETH.

“Ethereum saw its 7th consecutive week of inflows of US$1bn, with inflows over those 7 weeks totaling US$3.7bn, a dramatic improvement in sentiment.”

ETH price will likely push toward the November 2021 all-time highs in the coming days if institutional sentiment remains elevated.

Analysts set five-digit targets for ETH price 

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that ETH is fighting to turn the key $4,000 resistance level into new support as a launchpad to new all-time highs.

“The fight for $4,000 continues,” said popular crypto analyst Jelle in a Dec. 17 post on X, adding, “Break this, and all bets are off.”

Fellow analyst Venturefounder said that ETH has been consolidating in a triangle for over three years, which sets the stage for “a new paradigm.”

The analyst referred to the two-week candle chart, which forms part of a seven-year consolidation projecting an Ether price target above $15,000.

“Base Case: Ethereum likely to repeat this impulsive breakout it did between 2016-and 2017 to shoot to new ATH. Price target: $15,937 by May 2025”

ETH/USD 2W chart. Source: Venturefounder

MN Capital founder Michaell van de Poppe said , “We’ll have a comparable cycle to 2017 with a lot of upside,” setting the cycle top for ETH between $15,000 and $25,000.

However, other established crypto market participants are eying more conservative price targets. VanEck predicted a $6,000 cycle top for Ether price and a $180,000 Bitcoin ( BTC ) price in 2025.

Bitwise Asset Management predicts that Bitcoin, Ether and Solana ( SOL ) will hit $200,000, $7,000, and $750, respectively, in 2025.