Ethereum Price Forecast: Who's behind ETH's highest daily gain in four years?

Ethereum's 21% surge on Thursday marked its highest single-day gain since May 2021.
The rally was likely spurred by crypto native investors on the spot market who withdrew a net of 180K ETH from exchanges.
ETH could surge past the $2,500 and $2,850 key levels if its technical indicators on the weekly chart flip bullish.
Ethereum (ETH) is up 6% on Friday, extending its weekly gains to 29% after nearly two weeks of consolidation near $1,800. The recent rally stems from increased buying pressure from investors on the spot market following a sharp plunge in ETH's exchange reserve.
Spot investors sparked ETH's 21% gain
Ethereum recorded a 21.8% gain on Thursday, its highest single day gain.
Despite the rise, US spot Ether ETFs stretched their negative flows to three consecutive days of net outflows after shedding $16.11 million on Thursday, Ethereum's funding rates also remained at normal levels near 0.01, indicating the rally wasn't inspired by ETF flows or high leverage trading.
Spot investors sparked ETH's 21% gain
Ethereum recorded a 21.8% gain on Thursday, its highest single day gainETH/USDT.
Despite the rise, US spot Ether ETFs stretched their negative flows to three consecutive days of net outflows after shedding $16.11 million on Thursday, per SoSoValue data. Ethereum's funding rates also remained at normal levels near 0.01, indicating the rally wasn't inspired by ETF flows or high leverage trading.
Crypto native spot investors likely fueled the buying pressure, with Ethereum's exchange reserve plunging by nearly 180,000 ETH in the past 24 hours, now more than 450,000 ETH in two weeks.
A portion of the buying can also be traced to institutions, with Abraxas Capital withdrawing 138,511 ETH from exchanges in the past two days, per wallet tracker Lookonchain.
Active addresses on Ethereum also increased from 458,000 to 563,000 within the past 24 hours, indicating rising interest from crypto native investors, per Santiment data.
With the price surge, ETH's Weighted Sentiment, which measures its net positive and negative sentiment compared with social volume, soared to 5.2, its highest since May 2024.
The change in sentiment toward ETH follows the activation of the Pectra upgrade on mainnet on Wednesday — introducing features geared at improved user experience, staking efficiency and scalability — and a leadership restructuring at the Ethereum Foundation (EF).
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