Ethereum stalls under $1,800 as institutional buying meets weak demand
Ether's 3% gain reflects strong corporate accumulation and real-world asset tokenization, but stagnant user activity and bearish derivatives metrics threaten a retest of $1,700.
Ether rose 3% between Thursday and Friday, outperforming the broader cryptocurrency market. However, the rally stalled just short of $1,800 as weak onchain activity and soft derivatives data clashed with growing institutional adoption.
The price appreciation follows the successful launch of Robinhood Chain, a layer-2 network using ETH as its native gas token. The network has already attracted $106 million in bridge deposits, bolstered by Robinhood's rollout of tokenized stocks across 120 countries. Ethereum now commands a 47% share of the real-world asset tokenization market, led by tokens like SKY’s Tether Gold, Ondo’s US Dollar Yield, and Franklin Templeton’s government bonds.
This ecosystem expansion has created a notable divergence between network usage and token price. Leon Waidmann, head of research at Lisk, noted that Ethereum's total value locked reached $260 billion, exceeding ETH's $210 billion market cap for the first time. Waidmann argued this distortion means "ETH is underpriced," as the relative valuation sits below 2022 bear market levels.
Institutional buyers appear to agree with that assessment. Arkham Intelligence flagged a $36 million transfer of 20,500 ETH from Galaxy Digital on Thursday, matching previous acquisition patterns by BitMine. The treasury firm has accumulated 198,370 ETH over the past 30 days and now holds $10.3 billion in reserves.
Despite these corporate inflows, retail engagement continues to deteriorate amid the 2026 bear market as competing blockchains gain ground in automated yield vaults. According to DefiLlama, weekly decentralized application revenue on Ethereum has fallen to $11 million from $20 million in the first quarter. Active addresses have similarly contracted from 5.4 million to 3.2 million over the same period.
Derivatives traders are also showing hesitancy. ETH's perpetual futures annualized funding rate plummeted to 3% on Saturday, down from a 12% peak on Friday and well below the 6% neutral threshold. This lack of leverage demand leaves the asset vulnerable. While BitMine's aggressive buying provides a floor, the mixed signals suggest a retest of the $1,700 support level remains a distinct possibility.
