• ETH struggled to break through declining resistance, but a wedge pattern underscored potential pattern break.
• On-chain data signaled that investor activity was still moving in favor of long term optimism.

Ethereum [ETH] has been struggling to regain bullish momentum since December, as evident by its lower highs and limited upside.

But, could ETH be building up momentum for another robust bullish outcome?

The king of altcoin’s price action has been moving in a wedge pattern, underpinned by descending resistance and ascending support since December.

A breakout or break down from the same pattern could be on the cards, now that it is rapidly approaching its squeeze zone.

Investors are now wondering which direction ETH will follow. There has been a lot of uncertainty lately, especially as ETH underperformed while some rivals continued to experience robust demand.

Ethereum has also been facing more heat as other networks such as Sui [SUI] and Solana [SOL] continued to thrive in terms of network activity.

Network activity offers some confidence

Although it may seem like Ethereum has somewhat been lagging behind, the other side of the coin offers a different perspective. One that may even boost long term investor confidence.

IntoTheBlock data revealed that the number of depositors into Ethereum staking contracts has been growing.

The number of depositors into staking contracts recently peaked at 211,720 addresses on the 25th of January. There were roughly 152,230 addresses depositing into smart contracts exactly one year ago.

The amount of ETH staked recently peaked at 56.38 million ETH recently, which marked a new ATH.

The observations above indicate that more ETH is being channeled into staking.

This signals that investors are still feeling confident about ETH’s long term prospects — a contrast compared to the recent short term observations.

Ethereum addresses hold the clue

ETH addresses by time held also revealed some interesting findings. For example, The number of HODLers have grown over the past few months.

HODLer addresses grew from 91.18 million addresses as of the 1st of October to 96.98 million addresses as of the 25th of December.

Cruisers added about 5 million address during the same period, while traders almost doubled. The growing number of addresses also aligned with the surge in amount of ETH pumped into staking contracts.

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Read Ethereum’s [ETH] Price Prediction 2025–2026

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These findings indicated that holders were still optimistic about their long term prospects. However, the surge in ETH trader addresses aligned with the short term volatility.

So, ETH could soon regain its bullish strength. If that happens, the altcoin could finally experience enough demand to push as high as $5000 in the coming weeks.

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