The market value of Ethereum (ETH) has fallen to its lowest since October 2023. 

Between yesterday and today, in fact, it first fell below $1,900, and then also below $1,800, with an excursion to $1,750.

At this moment it loses 46% since the beginning of the year, and 64% from the historical highs of November 2021. 

During the bear-market of 2022, after reaching all-time highs, the price of ETH had fallen to below $900.

In September of the same year, however, with the transition from Proof-of-Work to Proof-of-Stake, it had marked a significant rebound, so much so that the previous month it had risen above $2,000. However, that rebound did not last long, so much so that by the end of the year it had returned to around $1,000.

During the course of 2023, it had managed to climb back above $2,000, but only to begin a period of oscillation between $1,500 and $2,100 that ended in December.

The current price has indeed returned to that range. 

The fact is that already at the beginning of 2024 it had managed to push above $4,000, and although in the second half of the year it had fallen back below $2,200, with the Trump trade it had risen again above $4,000.

To tell the truth, apart from the three brief peaks above $4,000 in the last year and a half, lately it had managed to stay at least above $3,000, but starting from the beginning of February this year, a new bear has begun. 

Taking as a reference the $3,300 from the January close, first it lost 23% in the first ten days of February, then it extended the loss to 35% in early March, and now in early April, it has brought it to -46%.

Taking instead as a reference the maximum peak of the last period, namely the approximately $4,000 of December, the loss rises to 55%.

What is most surprising, however, is that before the Trump trade it was around $2,400, so since then it has still lost 25%. 

On the contrary, taking as a reference the almost $2,300 at the beginning of 2024, it has lost more than 24%. 

These are really bad numbers, but maybe there is an explanation. 

A curious thing is that the -46% of ETH since the beginning of the year is close to the -39% of SOL (Solana) and lower than the -49% of DOGE (Dogecoin). 

In fact, there are several cryptos that from the beginning of 2025 are recording similar losses. 

Bitcoin instead is limited to -12%.

So it doesn’t seem that the crash in the value of ETH is a problem related to Ethereum, or to the crypto market, but to altcoins. 

In fact, for a month and a half now, the markets have been in full Bitcoin season, meaning a period in which the price trend of BTC performs much better than that of altcoins, either because it rises more, or because, as in this case, it falls less.

In other words, on one hand, the crypto markets suffer because all financial markets suffer, while on the other hand, the altcoins suffer even more due to capital flight towards Bitcoin. 

What is most concerning about the value of Ethereum is that it has not only fallen below the levels of late October 2024, but it has even fallen below the levels of late October 2023. 

For example, while Ethereum in this approximately one and a half years has dropped from $1,800 to $1,750, Bitcoin instead in the same period has risen from $37,000 to over $81,000.

The main competitor of Ethereum, Solana, in the same period has risen from $40 to $113, and this is probably currently the biggest problem accumulated in recent years by Ethereum. 

To this are added two other problems.

The first is the fact that after the transition to Proof-of-Stake in September 2022, there was no strong recovery, but only a brief bounce that merely brought the price of ETH to -65% from the bull highs. 

The second is that in July of last year, the Grayscale Ethereum Trust, once transformed into an ETF, was finally able to sell many ETH it had purchased in excess in previous years, significantly and suddenly increasing the selling pressure. 

At that point, the price of Ethereum fell from $3,200 to $2,200, and in the following months, it couldn’t even climb back above the $4,100 of March. 

So there are several problems afflicting Ethereum, even though the competition from Solana seems to be the one that continues to weigh the most.