Improving ETH fundamentals could signal a recovery in Ether’s price.

Main Receptors:

Ethereum has reached 16.4 million weekly transactions, fees can stay below $0.20 during high demand.

The amount of decentralized exchange in the Ethereum ecosystem has reached 26.8 billion dollars, which indicates the return of investor interest.

Ether (ETH) experienced a 15.9% price correction in the seven days ending Sunday. This volatility triggered $910 million in liquidity for bullish ETH positions, fueling fears that the $2,800 support level that has held steady for almost two months could finally be broken. Although this comes down to trader confidence, several on-chain and derivatives indicators point to a short-term rally back to $3,300.

Base layer fees are critical in determining demand for a native token, followed by transaction volume and growth in active addresses. Ethereum has faced criticism for prioritizing scaling, a strategy that is paying off as activity on Base, Polygon, Arbitrum, and Optimism picks up.

Ethereum network fees have increased by 19% in the past week, while competitors Tron and Solana have shown declines in relation to their recent trends. More importantly, the total number of transactions on Ethereum layer 2s has risen to 128 million, surpassing the sum of BNB Chain and Tron. This shows that the Ethereum ecosystem can effectively scale without destroying its core services.

Decentralized exchange (DEX) activity is a major indicator of capital flow and network fees. While trading of perpetual contracts peaked in August 2025 and has since declined, the trend is returning to Ethereum. This is largely due to average transaction fees dropping from $0.50 to $0.20 in November 2025.

Weekly DEX volumes on Ethereum reached $13 billion, up from $8.15 billion four weeks ago. Although Solana is the leader in weekly volume of $30 billion, the total Ethereum ecosystem reached $26.8 billion. The December 2025 update to Fusaka significantly increased network data capacity and greatly improved the user experience by introducing transaction batch workflows.

Ethereum's supremacy sticks even when professional traders are independent

As BNB Chain and Solana battle to capture more market share, Ethereum's dominance in Total Value Locked (TVL) remains strong evidence for investors to favor decentralization.

Professional traders are returning to a neutral position between call (buy) and put (sell) options, hedging further short-term losses. Contrary to popular belief that whales are anticipating every swing, the spike in picks occurred after ETH dropped below $2,800.

The ETH options call volume ratio on Deribit was neutral between Monday and Tuesday, after five days of options. In particular, Sunday's 2x high marked the highest level in more than four months. Confidence appears to be returning as traders recognize the risks associated with a shutdown of US government funding.

Related: Bitmine's staked Ether holdings represent annual stake earnings of $164M

Ether's price weakness contrasted with the S&P 500 trading at a high of 0.5%, while five-year US Treasury yields were steady around 3.85%. Investors are wary of inflation and the possibility of recession. CME's FedWatch tool said the probability of the US Federal Reserve cutting by 3.25% or less in July fell to 28%, down from 55% the previous month.

Ultimately, Ether's path to $3,300 is likely to be driven by continued DEX activity, increased network fees, and the clearing of recent uncertainty in options markets.