Ethereum Price Rally to $2,375 Meets Retail Selloff

Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, is down 0.3% ahead of Wednesday’s U.S. market hours to trade at $2,312. This shallow downtick aligns with the heightened geopolitical tensions, including the U.S. naval blockade on Iranian ports. The selling pressure further accelerated as retail investors are following a “sell-the-bounce” sentiment, which could spark another reversal in Ethereum price.

ETH Transfers Hit 1.3M as Price Lags Near $2.1K

On April 15th, the crypto market witnessed low volatility trading across the majority of major cryptocurrencies. This showdown in recovery momentum follows escalating disagreements between the U.S. and Iran despite the recently announced 2-week ceasefire.

Following the collapse of peace talks in Islamabad, U.S. President Donald Trump ordered the blockade of the entire Iranian coastline to halt their maritime trade, and put further pressure on reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

Other major hurdles, including the disagreements over the timeframe for suspending Iranian uranium enrichment and U.S. demands for the dismantling of nuclear facilities, have continued to fray the ceasefire agreement. 

That said, both sides have reportedly reached an “in-principle agreement” to extend the existing two-week ceasefire, with Pakistan also pushing to host the second round of high-level talks in Islamabad later this week. 

Small retail Ethereum investors are offloading tokens at a rapid pace. Wallets with a balance of 0.01 ETH or less sold 1,791 ETH, valued at $4.16 million, in the last 48 hours. Their combined holdings have now decreased to 155,020 ETH, with a value of approximately 359.8 million.

These micro-wallets initially accumulated the positions by 6,195 ETH in the last year, a 4.1% growth in the previous price surge. That trend has reversed sharply, with a 3,693 ETH reduction — equivalent to a 2.3% drop in their share. The selling follows as Ethereum has risen 17% since late March, indicating these small traders are looking at the recent climb with skepticism and are opting to trim exposure instead of taking part.

Key Levels to Watch as Ethereum price halts recovery at $2,375

Over the past two weeks, the Ethereum price rallied from $1,937 to its current trading value of $2,327, registering a loss or a gain of roughly 20%. The recovery, backed by a substantial surge in trading volume, gave a decisive breakout from a six-month-long resistance trendline. 

This dynamic resistance acted as a sell-the-bounce ceiling for traders, but the recent breakout signals a major sentiment shift. The initial surge of the post-breakout rally pushed the asset to the 70-day resistance of $2,375. 

This overhead resistance has currently stalled the recovery momentum and indicates that the Ethereum price could plunge to the $2,200 floor to regain its recovery, as per the ETH price forecast. If the buyers manage to sustain the recently reclaimed support, the ETH price could further rally to $2,628, followed by a leap towards the $3,000 psychological level. 

On the contrary note, if the Ethereum price loses the 20-day exponential moving average, the selling pressure would further escalate and drag the Ethereum coin back to $1,800.