Ethereum’s price has stalled this week after hitting a crucial resistance level, as on-chain data points to whale selling and declining social traction. Ethereum ( ETH ) was trading at $2,650 on Wednesday, May 28, a few points below the crucial barrier at $2,722. It remains 91% above the lowest level this year. Santiment data shows that whales have started capitulating, as their holdings fell by 200,000 coins, equivalent to $530 million. They now hold 103.52 million coins, down from 103.74 million on May 24. Ethereum’s social volume has also dropped to 476, down from this month’s high of 3,060. Falling social volume suggests that traders are not actively discussing ETH on top platforms like Telegram and X. In most cases, cryptocurrency prices rise when there are active discussions on social media. Ethereum whales and social volume | Source: Santiment Ethereum’s network is facing other challenges, particularly from its layer-2 networks. Data from growthepie , a data and insights provider across Ethereum Layer 1 and Layer 2 network, shows it had 415,000 active addresses on Tuesday, much lower than Base’s 1.93 million and Celo’s 486,000. You might also like: Metaplanet breaks personal record with $50m bond issuance to buy more BTC Additionally, the rent paid to Ethereum by these networks has tumbled. Base paid $112,000 in the last 30 days, down 57% from a month earlier. Arbitrum One and Optimism paid $39,000 and $13,000 respectively, both down by double digits. On the positive side, there are signs that U.S. investors are moving back into Ethereum ETFs. These funds have seen positive inflows for three consecutive weeks and are up $38 million so far this week. This increase has brought cumulative inflows to $2.8 billion, bringing total assets to $9.60 billion. Ethereum price technical analysis ETH price chart | Source: crypto.news The daily chart shows that ETH price has stalled in recent weeks after finding resistance at $2,722. It has failed to break above that level, which coincides with the 50% Fibonacci retracement point, at least three times. Ethereum has formed a bullish flag-like pattern, comprising a vertical move followed by some consolidation. It is also close to forming a golden cross pattern, as the spread between the 50-day and 200-day moving averages continues to narrow. A break above the 50% retracement would point to further upside, with the next major resistance at $3,000. A move above $3,000 would raise the odds of Ethereum rallying toward the psychological level of $4,000. A drop below the support at $2,333 would invalidate the bullish outlook. You might also like: Toncoin jumps 6% as BlackRock reportedly eyes Telegram’s $1.5b bond offering
