• Analysts said Ethereum may “need to wait” for a sustained rally, citing continued weakness against Bitcoin and key technical levels in the Ethereum-Bitcoin pair.
• Some market participants warned of further downside, saying Ethereum could fall if there was even a slight correction in equities or Bitcoin.
• Institutional activity offered contrast, with BlackRock purchasing roughly $49.1 million worth of Ethereum even as sentiment remained cautious.

Ethereum (ETH) remained under pressure on Saturday, lagging behind Bitcoin’s (BTC) recent strength, as market participants flagged potential downside risks despite continued institutional inflows.

Popular crypto analyst and MN Fund founder Michaël van de Poppe explained that this was “not great for ETH,” pointing to continued weakness in the Ethereum-Bitcoin pair. He said a decisive break above 0.032 BTC would mark the start of a stronger move, while failure to hold current levels could push the pair toward 0.026 BTC.

Van de Poppe added that with Bitcoin “potentially” running toward $93,000, Ethereum may lag further before its own move materializes. “Ethereum needs to wait for its run to take place,” he said.

Separately, crypto analyst Ted said Ethereum’s underperformance relative to Bitcoin is “not a good sign,” noting that the asset has struggled to gain momentum despite strength in the broader crypto market. “ETH still looks like it wants to dump, and it will happen if there’s even a slight correction in stocks and Bitcoin,” he said on Saturday.

Ethereum’s price was trading at $2,305, down by 0.1% over the past 24 hours. On Stocktwits, the retail sentiment around ETH remained in the ‘bearish’ zone, while chatter around it stayed at ‘normal’ levels over the past day.

The cautious analyst commentary came even as institutional flows into Ethereum remained active.

Spot Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs) recorded total net inflows of about $101.2 million on Friday, according to Coinglass data. BlackRock’s products led the move, with its iShares Ethereum Trust ETF (ETHA) seeing roughly $43.2 million in inflows, while iShares Staked Ethereum Trust ETF (ETHB) added about $5.9 million. The two funds represent BlackRock’s primary Ethereum offerings, with ETHA providing spot price exposure and ETHB incorporating staking-linked strategies.

In a separate development, more than 500 long-dormant Ethereum wallets were recently drained, with total losses estimated at around $800,000, WazzCrypto, a crypto commentator, reported on Friday. 

The funds, including over 260 ETH, were moved to an address flagged on Etherscan before being transferred to THORChain, adding to a series of crypto exploits in April, including the KelpDAO and Drift Protocol hack.

Read also: Peter Schiff Calls Bitcoin ‘Broken’—Thinks Policy Tailwinds Aren’t Enough

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