Ethereum (ETH) Consolidates at $3,300, Standard Chartered Forecasts $7,500 Peak and Bitcoin Outperformance
Ethereum (ETH) is trading at about $3,300 right now, and it hasn't changed much in the last 24 hours. This price level shows that Ethereum
Quick overview
- Ethereum is currently trading at around $3,300, showing little change in the last 24 hours and indicating consolidation compared to past bull cycles.
- Institutional adoption of Ethereum is accelerating, with major financial firms like JPMorgan Chase and Fidelity now offering tokenized investment products based on its infrastructure.
- Ethereum's technical roadmap and upgrades, including layer-2 solutions and zkEVMs, are expected to enhance its performance and could lead to a shift in investor sentiment back to ETH from Bitcoin.
- Standard Chartered projects Ethereum's price to reach $7,500 by 2026 and $30,000 by 2029, driven by expanding institutional demand and improvements in its underlying fundamentals.
Ethereum ETH/USD is trading at about $3,300 right now, and it hasn’t changed much in the last 24 hours. This price level shows that Ethereum has been consolidating and not doing as well as it has in the past bull cycles. However, a closer look at Ethereum’s fundamentals tells a different story, one that suggests 2026 could be a major turning point for the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency.

Institutional Adoption Accelerates Across Critical Infrastructure
It’s becoming more and more clear that Ethereum’s price movements are not in line with its underlying fundamentals. Vivek Raman, the CEO of Etherealize, says that Ethereum is still the best choice for institutional investors in the areas that matter most to them. The network and its layer-2 scaling solutions currently host most of the stablecoin activity in a global industry worth more than $300 billion. Ethereum is the main infrastructure for institutional tokenization projects because it holds more than 90% of all tokenized real-world assets on-chain.
Big companies in traditional finance are going beyond just testing things out. Just a few years ago, it would have appeared impossible that JPMorgan Chase and Fidelity would offer tokenized investment products based on Ethereum infrastructure. This drive toward real-world use has been made easier by clearer rules, especially in the US, which has made it more easier for institutions to get involved.
ETH Technical Roadmap Execution Could Drive Outperformance Against Bitcoin
Bitcoin has ongoing worries about quantum computing vulnerabilities, while Ethereum has a clear technical roadmap that will help it deal with future cryptographic problems. The network is growing because the gas limitations on layer 1 are going up, and zero-knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machines (zkEVMs) are getting closer to being ready for full production. Layer-2 solutions will take care of high-frequency trading, while this combination should make Ethereum quick enough and cheap enough for high-value transactions.
According to DeFi analyst DefiIgnas, these upgrades are little and not very exciting, but they are happening faster. Many early-cycle investors who bought a lot of ETH before the bull run felt disillusioned and switched to Bitcoin. This could change when Ethereum’s technological advancements become clearer.
Shifting Liquidity Dynamics Favor Large-Cap Assets
The way the crypto market works has altered a lot in 2025. Market creator Wintermute says that capital is no longer moving around a lot in the bitcoin ecosystem. Instead, Bitcoin, Ethereum, and a small number of large-cap tokens have become the most liquid. The expected tsunami of liquidity across all altcoins never happened.
The rise of spot ETFs and crypto treasury vehicles has mostly caused this change. These vehicles offer highly organized inflow channels that send money to the top of the market. These institutional products are changing the way the crypto market works since price changes are now dependent on where new liquidity can really join the market instead of broad-based speculation.
Ethereum Price Prediction: Standard Chartered Projects $7,500 in 2026, $30,000 by 2029
Standard Chartered thinks the price will be $7,500 in 2026 and $30,000 in 2029.
Standard Chartered has made a positive prediction for Ethereum, saying that it will be worth $7,500 by the end of 2026 and $30,000 by 2029. The bank says that expanding institutional demand, Ethereum’s supremacy in stablecoins, DeFi, and real-world asset tokenization, as well as higher network speed and possible clearer U.S. regulations, are all important factors that support these valuations.
The company also says that Ethereum could do better than Bitcoin in the near future because of strong demand from institutions and improving fundamentals in important on-chain sectors. This is a big change from the doubt that has enveloped Ethereum throughout its recent poor performance.
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