Key takeaways:

• Ethereum achieved 16.4 million transactions per week, proving that fees can stay below $0.20 during high demand.

• Decentralized exchange volume in the Ethereum ecosystem has reached $26.8 billion, signaling a return in investor interest.

Ether (ETH) experienced a 15.9% price correction in the seven days ending Sunday. This volatility resulted in the liquidation of $910 million for bullish leveraged ETH positions, fueling fears that the $2,800 support level, which has held steady for two months, could finally be broken. Despite this drop in investor confidence, several onchain and derivatives indicators suggest a potential near-term upside back to $3,300.

Base layer fees are key to determining demand for the native token, closely followed by growth in transaction volume and dynamic addresses. While Ethereum has faced criticism for prioritizing scalability through rollups, this strategy is paying off as activity on Base, Polygon, Arbitrum, and Optimism is gaining momentum.

Ethereum network fees have increased by 19% over the past week, while competitors Tron and Solana have seen declines compared to recent trends. More importantly, the total number of Ethereum Layer 2 transactions increased to 128 million, exceeding the sum of BNB Chain and Tron transactions. This suggests that the Ethereum ecosystem can scale effectively without sacrificing its core utility.

Decentralized exchange (DEX) activity is a leading indicator of capital inflows and network fees. While demand for perpetual contract trading peaked in August 2025 and has been sinking since then, the trend is shifting back towards Ethereum. This is mainly due to a decline in average transaction fees to $0.20 compared to $0.50 in November 2025.

Weekly DEX volumes on Ethereum have reached $13 billion, up from $8.15 billion four weeks ago. While Solana remains the leader with $30 billion in weekly volume, the total Ethereum ecosystem has reached $26.8 billion. Fusaka’s December 2025 update significantly increased network capacity and introduced batch transaction workflows, significantly improving the user experience.

Ethereum’s dominance continues even as professional investors become neutral

Ethereum’s dominance in total value locked (TVL) remains robust evidence of investor preference for decentralization, even as BNB Chain and Solana struggle to gain more market share.

Professional investors return to a neutral stance between put (call) and put (put) options after a low period of hedging against further losses. Contrary to the belief that whales anticipate every move, the peak in put volume occurred after ETH dropped below $2,800.

The put-to-call volume indicator for ETH options on Deribit neutralized from Monday to Tuesday, after five days favoring put options. It is worth noting that Sunday’s double peak was the highest level in over four months. Confidence appears to be returning as investors realize that the risks associated with the U.S. government funding freeze have had constrained impact on the market.

Related: Bitmine’s stake in Ether indicates $164 million in annual staking revenue

The weakness in ether prices contrasts with the S&P 500 Index trading within 0.5% of its all-time high, while the five-year US Treasury yield has stabilized near 3.85%. Investors remain cautious about the risks of inflation and recession; CME FedWatch tool shows that the likelihood of the U.S. Federal Reserve cutting interest rates to 3.25% or lower by July has fallen to 28%, down from 55% last month.

Ultimately, Ether’s path to $3,300 will likely come from sustained DEX activity, rising network fees, and the removal of the uncertainty recently seen in options markets.