Despite hitting record levels of activity on the Ethereum network, the price of ETH dropped 32.8% in the first quarter of the year. This decline was likely due to factors like forced selling of positions, movement of assets to Layer 2 solutions, and broader economic concerns.
Despite record levels of activity on the Ethereum network, the cryptocurrency experienced a significant 32.8% loss in value during the first three months of 2026.
CryptoRank data highlighted a stark contrast in the market. While March saw a slight increase of 1.3%, it wasn’t enough to make up for significant losses in January and February. Throughout the quarter, the price of the asset ranged from a high of $3,385 to a low of $1,760.
Ethereum’s price reached $2,020.55, according to CoinGecko. That’s a 1.61% increase over the past 24 hours, though it’s still 6.42% lower for the week.
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Ethereum Price Drop in Q1 2026
According to CryptoRank, a downturn in the AI market during February significantly contributed to the drop in Ethereum’s value. They observed that Ethereum behaved similarly to a tech stock during the recent market adjustments.
As AI-related tokens and equities weakened, Ethereum followed the same path lower.
The selling pressure intensified after leveraged long positions began to unwind.
Over $5.4 billion worth of cryptocurrency positions were closed out, or ‘liquidated,’ causing a significant price drop. Ethereum, in particular, fell from about $3,000 to as low as $1,473 during the most severe part of the quarter.
Besides that, broader macro fears added pressure.
CryptoRank also highlighted the impact of rising oil prices due to tensions in the Iran-Hormuz region. These higher prices sparked fears of stagflation, leading investors to sell off riskier assets like cryptocurrencies.
Analytics: closes Q1 2026 down -32.8% — yet March alone was +1.3%.
The “resilience” of March masks a brutal quarter. Here’s what actually happened:
In February, the AI sector experienced a significant downturn, with over $5.4 billion in leveraged long positions being closed. This sell-off happened as investors treated AI stocks as a general representative for the tech industry, triggering a cascading effect.
— CryptoRank.io (@CryptoRank_io)
Ethereum Network Usage Hits Record Highs
Despite the price decline, Ethereum’s network activity reached all-time highs during the quarter.
CryptoRank noticed an interesting mismatch: even though people were actively using a cryptocurrency, its price wasn’t increasing. They pointed this out on social media, suggesting that high usage doesn’t always mean the price will go up.
A key reason came from layer-2 migration.
With increased activity on layer-2 networks, the amount of ETH destroyed through transaction fees on the main Ethereum network decreased significantly. This caused Ethereum to unexpectedly return to producing more ETH over time, weakening a key argument that previously drove price increases.
This disconnect left traders focused more on capital flows than chain growth.
Instead of investing in cryptocurrency, money shifted towards traditionally secure assets like gold and oil. Because of this, even positive growth in crypto usage wasn’t enough to immediately impact prices.
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ETH/BTC Level Signals Key Altcoin Strength Zone
Market analyst Daan Crypto Trades also highlighted Ethereum’s position against Bitcoin.
The analyst observed in their recent post that Ether (ETH) is still trading around 0.03 ETH per Bitcoin (BTC), and this level appears to be holding as a key support level.
The analyst believes that if the price rises above $0.032, buyers will regain control of the market. This could also lead to Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies performing better than Bitcoin for a while.
Still hovering on this 0.03 ETH/BTC level.
Looks like a decent base, but you’d need some strength from for that as well.
If the price goes above $0.032, buyers will likely regain control, and I expect Ethereum and other alternative cryptocurrencies to perform well for a period of time.
But I see a sign of strength like that,…
— Daan Crypto Trades (@DaanCrypto)
From my perspective, while there’s some positive movement, Bitcoin still needs to demonstrate sustained strength before we can confidently say the trend is changing. Until it does, the overall downward trend continues to make traders hesitant.
Ethereum is seeing record-high activity, but its price hasn’t performed as well this quarter, making for a surprisingly unusual beginning to the year.
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2026-03-31 02:51