How High Can ETH Go? Ethereum Price Prediction for 2026, 2030 & More

The price of ETH today is $1,957.77, changing within the past 24 hours for -0.15% and 0.67% over the week. ETH’s price action is characterized by the Bearish sentiment.

The current volatility index for ETH is measured at 17.5%. ETH’s circulating supply is 120.69M. In the big picture, the highest price ETH has reached is $4,946.5 and its lowest observed price was $0.4209.

Current Market Overview

Ethereum's journey through 2026 so far has been anything but smooth. After closing 2025 just under the psychologically important $3,000 mark, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap has spent the opening weeks of the new year wrestling with persistent downward pressure. As of mid-February, ETH was trading around $1,980, a level that represents roughly 60% below where it stood six months earlier. That drop looks even sharper when you consider the token was already down 33% for the year by that point. The mood in the broader market reflects this strain: the crypto fear and greed index sits at a reading of 12 out of 100, which is dangerously close to panic-selling territory.

The technical picture tells a similar story of consolidation under pressure. Ethereum has been confined between $2,100 and $1,800 since early February, levels that haven't been seen since the previous May. On shorter timeframes, a tightening triangle pattern has formed on the 4-hour chart after the token rebounded from an $1,800 low, and volatility compression suggests an imminent breakout in either direction. A move above resistance could push ETH toward $2,300–$2,400 in the near term, while a breakdown below $1,800 would expose lower demand zones and potentially extend the sell-off.

What makes this particularly interesting is the disconnect between price action and on-chain fundamentals. Despite the brutal drawdown, Ethereum still accounts for 57% of all total value locked in DeFi, and it remains the go-to blockchain for major Wall Street firms when it comes to stablecoins and real-world asset tokenization projects. In fact, BlackRock noted that roughly two-thirds of tokenized assets were settled on Ethereum's network in early 2026. Network activity has also been climbing: transactions rose 18% to over 70.2 million, and active addresses increased to 14.6 million. These are not the metrics of a dying platform.

The real tension lies in sentiment versus structure. Demand from U.S.-based investors has been relatively weak, as reflected in the Coinbase Premium Index remaining predominantly negative, though it has recently ticked upward without yet crossing into neutral territory. At the same time, savvy players are positioning for a turnaround. Some investors are snapping up shares of Bitmine Immersion Technologies, described as the world's largest Ethereum treasury company, betting on a price rally ahead.

One catalyst that could shift the narrative is regulatory clarity. Comprehensive crypto-market legislation remains unresolved, but the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act is being discussed as a way to clarify how digital assets—especially those central to Ethereum's DeFi ambitions—are regulated. The precedent is encouraging: passage of the Genius Act for stablecoins last summer coincided with a rally that eventually pushed Ethereum to an all-time high of $4,954 in August. If the Clarity Act is signed into law this year, it could have similar knock-on effects.

Technical upgrades also remain on the horizon. Planned improvements include Glamsterdam and Hegota, both aimed at boosting transaction speeds and reducing costs, while a privacy feature based on ERC-5564 would introduce stealth addresses on Ethereum and other EVM chains. These aren't just cosmetic changes—they address real pain points that have driven users to competing Layer-1 platforms.

As for where the price is headed, opinions vary widely. Standard Chartered projects Ethereum to reach about $7,500 by end-2026, down from an earlier $12,000 estimate, while Changelly suggests an average around $4,690 with a potential high of $5,201. More cautiously, CoinCodex predicts ETH at $2,353 by year-end. What all these forecasts share is the assumption that Ethereum will recover from its current lows. History supports that view: Tom Lee pointed out that Ethereum has experienced eight major drawdowns since 2018, and in every case, it staged a strong V-shaped recovery.

The question isn't whether Ethereum can bounce back—it's when, and what will trigger it.

ETH Sentiment

Which way the market swings today? Overall, technical indicators show that currently, the sentiment in the ETH markets is Bearish. The Fear and Greed Index for ETH today is in the 9 (Extreme Fear) zone.

What are Ethereum blockchain and Ether (ETH)?

Ethereum is a decentralized platform that was envisioned as a “global computer” by Vitalik Buterin. It was built to support smart contracts that let the users execute agreements without any intermediaries and more complex applications. Today, decentralized applications (dApps) built on the Ethereum blockchain form the ecosystems of decentralized finance (DeFi), blockchain gaming, and more.

Ether (ETH) — often called Ethereum — is the native currency of the platform. It is primarily used for paying transaction fees as well as a means to sustain the network.

The merge and transition to Proof-of-Stake previously was known as Ethereum 2.0. After the merge, instead of mining, Ethereum is secured by staking. This version will have better scalability on the base layer, too, and the merger was finally finished in 2023.

A deeper dive into the exciting world of Ethereum’s technology and Ether’s value can be found in our Beginner’s guide to Ethereum.

What Affects Ethereum’s Price?

Tech updates

The Merge, previously referred to as Ethereum 2.0, was finished in 2023 with the Shapella upgrade, which unlocked the stakes. Even though the lull in the market seemed to have more effect on the Ethereum price than the news, it contributed to Ethereum’s growth during that year.

Even with the Ethereum 2.0 and Merge narratives out of the picture, the network will keep receiving updates. Tangible steps in the direction of solving the scalability and sustainability issues are finally being made on mainnet. Next up for Ethereum is the Dencun (Deneb + Cancun) upgrade that will introduce so-called “protodanksharding”. In practice, it would mean significantly lower L2 operation fees.

It seems that for now, the Ethereum network will have to rely on layer two solutions, as Vitalik Buterin said years ago. The teams behind OMG Network and Polygon were the first to implement some of them but by now, the L2 landscape looks different. Rollups became the most popular type of scaling solutions: optimistic rollups power Arbitrum, Optimism, and Base, while zero-knowledge rollups are present in zkSync Era and Starknet.

The Dencun upgrade, which is expected around March 13, 2024, can become the impulse that carries the Ethereum price forward to new highs.

Use Cases

Even in 2024, the Ethereum platform still dominates DeFi, and many of its proponents see a promise of future value increase. More than that, ETH is simply needed to pay the “gas” fee for the transactions on the platform. In addition, stablecoins are attracting a lot of attention to the network. Some of the largest by market capitalization stablecoins at the moment are USDT, USDC, and DAI, all ERC-20 tokens.

In 2021, Ethereum-based NFT (non-fungible tokens) broke into the mainstream market. These days, there are way more blockchains to mint and trade NFTs but ERC-721 tokens still account for most of the NFT market, even after the advent of Ordinals.

Even though most apps and protocols on Ethereum these days make use of the L2 scaling solutions, gas is still paid in ETH. Rollups and other L2s make fees cheaper for the end user but also enable more users to join, which can lead to a rise in validator revenues as well. Positive network activity benefits all sides, increasing the utility of the Ethereum network.

Tokenomics

Back in 2021, the hard fork London changed Ethereum gas fee mechanics and with those, the ETH supply dynamic. Currently, the fee consists of a base fee, which is burned, and a tip, which goes to the miner. The fee market is still in place in a way but Ethereum is not as reliant on it as Bitcoin.

ETH burn has become an important factor in the dynamics of the cryptocurrency’s supply. After the update, the inflation rate of ETH quickly dropped below Bitcoin’s (1.11% vs. 1.75%).

At the time of writing, 4,113,687.1 ETH has been burnt. The busier the network is, the higher the deflationary pressure. And you better believe it’s busy: the current emission rate of ETH is in the negatives, which means it’s burned faster than mint.

The effect of disinflation is harder to observe than breakouts caused by the news. However, this factor still influences the Ethereum price in the background, slowly reducing the supply while the demand changes with the sentiment.

Summary of the Ethereum Price Predictions 2024–2034

• The question of Ethereum beating its ATH is not if, it’s when. Even moderate forecasts see it happening sometime in 2025 or 2026, and bullish ones aim for price discovery this year already.
• According to moderate estimates, ETH can reach five figures even before 2030. Such growth will be sustained thanks to the value provided by the blockchain technology used in the Ethereum network, and more importantly, its ongoing development.
• As for the bullish predictions, Ethereum can aim beyond $50 thousand in just a few years from now.

Ethereum (ETH) Price Prediction 2026–2029

If you intend to hold ETH for more than a year and are curious about the Ethereum price from 2026 to 2029, here are some estimates from different sources. Don’t be surprised: all of them are extra bullish on ETH!

Ethereum Price Prediction 2030, 2034

Where Ethereum will go next in the short term is a burning question but experts also have a lot to say about the long-term future of this asset. Let’s review their opinions and read the arguments.

Using an original prediction model, Coin Data Flow forecasts that by 2030, ETH should be trading in the range of $9,125.20–$31,382.14. Continuing the same projected path, in ten years it will arrive somewhere between $15,628.28 and $49,932.98.

Not all analysts share the same degree of bullishness. Dominic Basulto, writing for The Motley Fool, pinpoints the target at which ETH will arrive by 2030: $10,000. He admits that this estimate is conservative, even though it would take a massive price move in only six years. Key factors in this would be scaling improvements and the spot ETF approval. After all, we are already observing how it did wonders for Bitcoin.

Finder went further and surveyed a panel of 40 industry specialists and experts. Summing up their opinions, they placed the average price of Ethereum in 2030 near $19,190. The reason it isn’t higher includes competition from L2s and other smart contract platforms.