
ETH is no stranger to volatility. Even from its first weeks, around August 2015, it had already achieved multiple swings of 50% in both up and down directions. and It declined as Ethereum remained obscure to all but some cryptocurrency enthusiasts.
In the modern era, since Ethereum has been in place, we have naturally seen more catalyst-driven moves. For example, the peak of the DeFi+NFT mania in May 2021 pushed ETH’s first run to $4,300, while the arrival of the Pectra upgrade four years later caused a 21% surge in 1D.
However, recently, people have joked that ETH is a real stablecoin. It trades mostly flat in the $1,800-$2,000 range in 2026, which, yes, is basically the same range it was trading in in the summer of 2021. It has outperformed a lot lately, in other words.
this Which is why ETH’s +20% price rally yesterday, August 19, looked like a return to form, or if not, then at least a return toward respectability. Not only was this one of ETH’s biggest rallies in modern times, but ETH was outperforming for a change, having outperformed almost every top 100 coin on the day.
When was the last time you saw ETH print a daily candle of +20%?
May 8, 2025…opened at 1,811 and closed at 2,207.
What followed next?
+125% move over the next three months.
And don’t forget the ETH-pegged coins that went with it.
– OSF (@osf_rekt) August 20, 2026
We haven’t seen that in a while. Yet like us He owns As we have seen before, this movement had major catalysts, not least what happened yesterday White House Cryptocurrency SummitPresident Trump called for the adoption of the Clarity Act and said (once again) that the United States was considering acquiring reserves of BTC and other cryptocurrencies (Which, if true, would presumably include ETH).
These statements, combined with an expansion in Treasury bond buybacks and spot ETH ETF inflows, made for a green candle, which in turn triggered a massive short squeeze that led to the liquidation of an estimated $1 billion worth of ETH positions. As those short positions were liquidated, traders were forced to buy back Ethereum to close out their bets, and this forced covering added to the profits. more Buying pressure is still producing more Green candles.
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Of course, as great as the big green day was for ETH holders after a long drought, I think it’s fair to say that ETH still looks oversold compared to Bitcoin, and Ethereum fundamentals in general.
In fact, the market cap of BTC today ($1.45 trillion) is about 5 times higher than ETH ($281 billion), but does it offer 5x interest or potential? Absolutely not, and that was not true in my opinion at all.
Of all cryptocurrencies, Ethereum today boasts the strongest smart contract architecture. The largest development community and the largest collection of development tools. The largest DeFi ecosystem, the largest NFT ecosystem. The most apps, the most liquidity, the most stable currencies, the most tokenized real-world assets, and the most TradFi experiences.
Admit it: I was very wrong about Ethereum
I haven’t built anything on EVM in almost 3 years. My only experience with transactions on EVMs was buying illicit coins on Uniswap (still a trivial experience)
I was never aware of the large number of improved investment plans that have dramatically improved…
– MetaHacker (@metahacker_) August 19, 2026
ETH’s price may have struggled recently, but its fundamentals and qualitative potential have quietly outperformed, and it has consolidated as best-in-class across almost every meaningful category. Ethereum is now a juggernaut that people would not have thought possible at such speed 10 years ago.
Arguably, then, the best thing about yesterday’s price rise is that it represents an acknowledgment and correction of Ethereum’s actual strength and dominant position, which ETH has felt unfettered by for a while.
And that’s the way things go sometimes. ETH has been struggling lately and its best days ahead for ETH are no contradiction. There are so many complex factors at play in cryptocurrencies, that coins often behave as if they were wild dragons, that is, in a mysterious and unpredictable way.
Dealing with this kind of uncertainty can seem like a test. Then again, what is a test but a challenge to determine if you are worthy of what comes next? I have a feeling that yesterday was just one round of the next major phase up. We’ll see of course, but I like the ETH prospects here.
