After weeks stuck below a key psychological level, Ethereum (ETH) surged past $2,000 in a swift rally, pushing prices to $2,158 within a day. The recovery comes after a prolonged period of sideways trading around $1,900 and a broader correction that had pushed ETH more than 60% below its previous peak.

The latest double-digit recovery coincided with a wider cryptocurrency market rebound, with total market capitalization rising by over 4% and Bitcoin also advancing during the same period.

ETH's price trends to the downside on the daily chart. Source: ETHUSD on Tradingview

Ethereum ETF Inflows and Institutional Activity Drive Recovery

Renewed institutional demand helped drive Ethereum’s breakout, as spot ETFs recorded fresh inflows after weeks of outflows. Daily investments topped $20 million in some sessions, with total inflows exceeding $125 million on February 25, led largely by Grayscale and Fidelity products.

On-chain data also pointed to accumulation by large holders. Whale wallets added thousands of ETH while others withdrew significant amounts from exchanges, a pattern often interpreted as long-term positioning rather than short-term trading.

The Ethereum Foundation added another layer of support by announcing plans to stake 70,000 ETH from its treasury. The move reflects a shift toward active reserve management while reducing the circulating supply available on the market.

Technically, momentum indicators turned positive as capital flowed back into the asset. Analysts identified resistance zones between $2,080 and $2,150, while support formed around the psychologically important $2,000 level.

Upgrade Roadmap Signals Faster and More Secure Ethereum

Beyond price action, investor attention has also focused on Ethereum’s long-term development roadmap. Co-founder Vitalik Buterin recently outlined proposals to significantly improve transaction speed and security over the next several years.

The plan includes gradually reducing block slot times from 12 seconds to as low as two seconds, allowing faster transaction processing. Developers are also targeting transaction finality between 6 and 16 seconds, a major reduction from the current confirmation timeframe, which can stretch into minutes.

The roadmap spans multiple protocol upgrades expected through the end of the decade and introduces quantum-resistant cryptography designed to prepare the network for future computing risks. Changes will be implemented gradually to limit disruption and maintain network stability.

Options Expiry Could Increase Short-Term Volatility

Despite improving sentiment, derivatives markets may introduce near-term volatility. Around $893 million worth of ETH options are set to expire this week, with a “max pain” level near $2,200. The put-to-call ratio below 1 suggests traders are leaning toward upside exposure, though expiry mechanics can temporarily influence price direction.

Ethereum’s ability to hold above $2,000 remains the key signal for traders. Sustained institutional inflows and progress on network upgrades could determine whether the latest rally develops into a broader trend reversal or remains a short-term recovery within a larger consolidation phase.

Cover image from ChatGPT, ETHUSD chart on Tradingview

India Inc has logged its first aggregate earnings upgrade in five quarters, signalling a turn in the corporate profit cycle after a prolonged period of estimate cuts. The upgrade is being driven largely by mid- and large-cap companies, even as small caps continue to see downgrades.

Motilal Oswal’s universe of stocks has seen its FY26 profit after tax (PAT) estimate raised by 2% over the three months ending September 2025 (2QFY26) earnings season, the first upgrade since the end of the June 2024 (1QFY25) results season. This follows a string of cuts of 6%, 3%, 4% and 2% over the preceding four earnings periods, underscoring a clear inflection in the revisions cycle.

Mid-caps have led the recovery with earnings upgrades of 3.1% for FY26, while large caps have also seen healthy upward revisions of about 2%. In contrast, small caps remain under pressure, with aggregate FY26 PAT estimates cut by 5.5%, reflecting the continued stress in the tail of the market.

Sector leaders and laggards

Within the broader universe, the breadth of revisions has been more favorable in the larger sectors, where key profit pools have seen meaningful upgrades. Oil & gas (FY26 PAT up 13%), telecom (up 30%), PSU banks (up 5%), insurance (up 3%) and non‑lending NBFCs (up 2%) are among the biggest gainers on the earnings revision sheet.

On the flip side, utilities have seen the sharpest cuts with an 8% downgrade in FY26 PAT, followed by autos at 3% (largely due to Tata Motors; excluding it, auto PAT has been revised up 3%) and healthcare at 3%. Among smaller sectors, chemicals, media, staffing and cement have borne the brunt of downgrades, while small‑cap private banks, insurance, retail and EMS have seen double‑digit earnings cuts.

Outlook: Mid-teens growth despite soft GDP

The brokerage is pencilling in FY26/FY27 earnings growth of 12%/15% for the Nifty 50 and 15%/16% for its coverage universe, implying that the current upgrade phase could be sustained without sharp swings in either direction. It argues that even with nominal GDP growth expected to stay below 10%, mid‑teens corporate profit growth is plausible because PAT is influenced by factors such as leverage, pricing power, cost trends and competition, not just top‑down macro growth.Historical data show that nominal GDP growth explains only about 20% of Nifty 50 PAT growth and an even smaller share for the broader universe, with explanatory power improving to still‑modest levels even in stretch, non‑linear fits. With MOFSL universe PAT growing just 6% in FY25, the low base also increases the probability of stronger mid‑teens earnings expansion over FY26–27.

Profits’ modest share in GDP

India Inc’s profit pool remains relatively small against the size of the economy, adding to the cyclicality of earnings versus the smoother GDP trajectory. Nifty 500 PAT stood at 4.7% of GDP in FY24 and FY25, while total corporate profits (listed plus unlisted) were about 7.3% of GDP, compared with an average India Inc profit‑to‑GDP ratio of roughly 4–5% over the past two decades.

By contrast, US corporate profits have averaged around 11% of GDP between 2020 and 2024, yet even there nominal GDP growth shows limited ability to explain annual profit growth, reinforcing the case for looking beyond macro growth rates when assessing earnings. The report concludes that concerns around lower nominal GDP mechanically dragging down corporate earnings are overstated in the Indian context.

Valuations, positioning and preferred themes

Motilal Oswal remains constructive on equities, expecting Indian markets to claw back their underperformance of calendar 2025 on the back of healthier earnings, supportive domestic macros and an improved geopolitical backdrop. Large caps are described as “not demanding”, with the Nifty 50 trading at a one‑year forward price‑earnings multiple of 21.3 times versus a long‑term average of 20.8 times, while small caps sit at a significant premium.

The brokerage is overweight diversified financials, automobiles, capital goods, IT services and telecom, and underweight energy, metals, utilities and staples. Its preferred large‑cap names include Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank, SBI, Infosys, Larsen & Toubro, M&M, Titan, Bharat Electronics, IndiGo, TVS Motor, Tech Mahindra and Indian Hotels, while mid‑cap picks span Swiggy, Dixon Technologies, Suzlon, Jindal Stainless, Coforge, Kaynes Technology, Radico Khaitan, V‑Mart and VIP Industries.

In the past few weeks, Ethereum has been experiencing sideways movements, causing its price to fall below the $3,500 mark. However, with several key updates incoming, such as the Fusaka Upgrade, ETH may attract the necessary attention and adoption that will pave the way for a major rally to pivotal levels.

Fusaka Upgrade The Tipping Point For Ethereum

As the broader crypto sector evolves, Ethereum is set to roll out one of its most crucial updates: The Fusaka Upgrade, which will bolster the leading network. Set to launch in December, the Fusaka update, which is intended to increase scalability, boost staking effectiveness, and reduce transaction costs, signifies another significant phase in Ethereum’s long-term plan for improved performance and decentralization.

While the impending update is pivotal, Ash Crypto, a market analyst and investor, claims it’s emerging as a potential trigger for the next major breakout in ETH’s price. “No one is talking about this, but the ETH fusaka upgrade on December 3 could be the next leg up catalyst,” the expert stated.

Ash Crypto’s bold statement is fueled by the several enhancements that the upgrade is poised to make to the Ethereum network and its ecosystem. He suggests that Fusaka’s entry into the market would reignite bullish momentum across ETH’s ecosystem that will extend to its price dynamics. 

According to Ash Crypto, ETH is entering its “Performance Era” as participants anticipate the key upgrade. When the update eventually goes live, it will enable more Transactions Per Second (TPS), lower fees, higher throughput, support for additional users, and accommodate high demand. 

With the launch date drawing closer, ETH whales are seen buying billions worth of ETH, which may imply a strategic positioning by high-net-worth investors ahead of major price spikes. Ash Crypto has predicted a possible price rally that is comparable to the one observed in the 2021 cycle.

In the 2021 cycle, ETH experienced a massive leg-up, taking its price from $80 to the $4,800 level. Since current market trends are mirroring 2021’s, the expert is confident that ETH could easily move up to the $7,000-$8,000 zone, especially if it surpasses and holds above $5,000.

Impending Breakout From Multi-Year Formation

After examining Ethereum’s chart, StockTrader Max, a crypto analyst on X, reveals that ETH is about to break out from a multi-year consolidation. Specifically, ETH has been in this consolidation phase for over 5 years.

However, recent price action indicates that the altcoin looks primed to enter price discovery, triggering a rally to new all-time highs. As indicated on the chart, StockTrader Max expects ETH to skyrocket to the $8,000 price mark and beyond.

While the price has fallen below the $3,500 level, the Ethereum Fear and Greed Index has moved into Fear territory. This suggests that ETH’s market sentiment is heavily shifting toward a more cautious state, as it is caught between short-term pressure and long-term optimism. Presently, speculations are whether the fear is a warning sign or the quiet before the altcoins’ next significant action.

Featured image from Pxfuel, chart from Tradingview.com

The Ethereum (ETH) blockchain is poised for one of its most significant upgrades yet, the Fusaka Upgrade, set to take place on December 3. This enhancement aims to tackle one of the network’s most pressing challenges: scalability. 

Promises Of The Upcoming Fusaka Upgrade

According to a recent analysis by The Bull Theory experts on social media platform X (formerly Twitter), Fusaka is designed to fundamentally improve Ethereum’s performance.

A key feature of the Fusaka Upgrade is its substantial boost to the network’s capacity, raising the block limit from 45 million to 150 million gas. This increase is complemented by the introduction of two systems: PeerDAS and Verkle Trees, which collectively transform data management on the blockchain. 

PeerDAS enables Ethereum to process Layer-2 transactions more swiftly and affordably, while Verkle Trees lighten the storage requirements, making blockchain verification much more efficient.

The implications for users are significant. Layer-2 solutions such as Arbitrum (ARB), Coinbase’s Base, and Optimism (OP) rely heavily on Ethereum for transaction settlements. The current protocol necessitates that every Ethereum node downloads extensive data sets to confirm transactions. 

However, the Fusaka Upgrade mitigates this issue. With PeerDAS, nodes will only need to verify samples rather than complete data chunks, which could dramatically lower costs and accelerate transaction times. 

This efficiency means that rollups will become less expensive, enhancing the overall experience for users in decentralized finance (DeFi) and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

From an economic perspective, cheaper rollups are expected to stimulate activity across Layer-2 networks, leading to an influx of users and applications. Consequently, this surge could result in increased fees being burned, thereby elevating ETH’s demand. 

Could Ethereum Reach New Price Records?

For analysts at The Bull Theory, the Fusaka Upgrade not only strengthens ETH’s role as the primary settlement platform across the crypto economy, encompassing everything from DeFi to tokenized assets, but it also reinforces its position in the broader market landscape.

Fusaka follows a series of important milestones for the Ethereum network that have reshaped its fundamentals. The Merge in 2022 made the network more energy-efficient, while the Shanghai/Shapella update in 2023 introduced the capability for staked ETH withdrawals. 

The Dencun upgrade in 2024 incorporated proto-danksharding and blobs, and Pectra, which took place in 2025, brought about validator flexibility and Layer-2 interoperability.

Previous upgrades, including the Pectra Upgrade, have demonstrated the market’s responsiveness to enhancements in network efficiency—triggering a remarkable 50% rally for ETH earlier this year.

While ETH is trading just above $3,500, a similar response and level of demand to the next upgrade could push ETH to a new high of $5,250. This is supported by analysts’ forecasts of a bullish fourth quarter for the broader digital asset market. 

Featured image from DALL-E, chart from TradingView.com

Ethereum (ETH) is set to introduce its latest upgrade, dubbed the Fusaka upgrade, on December 3, 2025, a timeline that has been accelerated from previous expectations of a 2026 launch. This announcement comes from Christine Kim, a researcher monitoring Ethereum’s development progress. 

The confirmation of the mainnet activation date was made during the recent All Core Developers Consensus (ACDC) call, where developers also established schedules for public testnet upgrades and the blob-parameter-only (BPO) hard fork related to Fusaka.

Ethereum’s Fusaka Devnet Update

The developers reached a consensus on these matters with surprising ease, indicating a smooth path forward despite ongoing testing challenges. They remain committed to the December activation date, barring any major setbacks during the next few months of testing. 

Currently, two versions of the Fusaka Devnet are in operation. Devnet-3 is stable, with client teams actively addressing software fixes. Meanwhile, Devnet-5 is also stable but encountered issues earlier this week, including multiple client bugs and node misconfigurations. 

These problems have reportedly limited the team’s ability to gather critical data on Blob-Parameter-Only (BPO) values. However, insights were still derived from a brief period of stability on Devnet-5, leading to recommendations for setting maximum blob counts for the upcoming hard forks.

Looking ahead, the Ethereum Foundation’s EthPandaOps team plans to roll out Fusaka Devnet-6 in the coming weeks to validate the findings from Devnet-5. 

The team is focused on addressing a bug in the Prysm client that has emerged on Devnet-5, which appears to be linked to high blob counts resulting in orphaned blocks. Additionally, a recent update to the “ckzg” library has resolved prior issues, with a new version now available on GitHub.

Upcoming Testnets 

The timeline for the Fusaka rollout is well-defined, with several key upgrades scheduled before the mainnet activation. Upcoming testnets include the Holesky upgrade on October 1, the Sepolia upgrade on October 14, and the Hoodi upgrade on October 28. 

Developers agreed that client teams should consolidate their releases for these testnet upgrades but can individually publish updates closer to the mainnet activation.

In a separate but related development, the Ethereum community is engaged in discussions regarding the naming of a new consensus layer upgrade, referred to as Glamsterdam. 

This will also involve the deprecation of the Sepolia testnet, although developers assured that there would be ample time for the community to adapt to this change, with the new testnet expected to launch in March 2026.

At the time of writing, Ethereum trades at $4.460, recording a 3.5% price drop in the 24-hour time frame. Still, the altcoin registers gains of 80% year-to-date. 

Featured image from DALL-E, chart from TradingView.com

Ethereum Foundation (EF) Co-Executive Director Tomasz K. Stańczak took to X today to reiterate the critical importance of the Ethereum (ETH) network’s Fusaka upgrade, which is scheduled to go live in Q4 2025. Stańczak urged the community to focus on avoiding any delays to this key upgrade.

Ethereum’s Fusaka Upgrade Scheduled For Q4 2025

In a post on X published today, Stańczak shared his views on the smart contract platform’s Fusaka upgrade, emphasizing the need for Ethereum developers to prioritize this upgrade over the upcoming Glamsterdam hard fork, which is expected to launch in Q1 or Q2 of 2026.

Stańczak mentioned that he had advised project coordinators to temporarily pause discussions around the Glamsterdam upgrade and focus exclusively on ensuring the timely delivery of Fusaka. He stated:

As I have said many times, no amount of talking about Ethereum’s roadmap and vision matters if we cannot achieve coordination levels that consistently meet goals on schedule. I know that some extremely talented people are now working on resolving the issues that caused teams to suggest moving the dates. I would love to see a broad agreement that the timelines matter a lot. A lot.

For those unfamiliar, the Fusaka upgrade will introduce a range of technical enhancements to Ethereum. It builds on the Pectra upgrade, which went live in May 2025 and brought improvements to validators and account abstraction.

What Does Fusaka Upgrade Offer?

The Fusaka upgrade combines two major upgrades – Fulu (consensus layer) and Osaka (execution layer). It will introduce 11 new Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs), Peer-to-Peer Data Availability Sampling (PeerDAS), and Verkle Trees.

One of the key EIPs, EIP-7825, aims to enhance the Ethereum network’s resilience to attacks by introducing a transaction gas limit cap of 16,777,216 units. This will help mitigate spam and safeguard nodes from targeted attacks.

PeerDAS enables network participants to efficiently verify shard data availability without downloading the entire data set, significantly improving scalability. This mechanism helps keep the network’s sharded blockchain secure and decentralized by preventing data withholding attacks while reducing the resource demands on individual nodes.

Meanwhile, Verkle Trees are an advanced type of cryptographic data structure that improve the efficiency of storing and verifying large amounts of data compared to traditional Merkle trees. They will enable ETH nodes to prove and verify state data with much smaller proofs, reducing storage requirements and speeding up sync times.

Ethereum’s continuous technological upgrades have fueled a growing trend among corporations to incorporate ETH into their treasury strategies. Recently, ETH exchange-traded fund (ETF) inflows surpassed those of Bitcoin (BTC) products.

Additionally, a recent VanEck report suggested that ETH, rather than BTC, may become the future’s preferred store of value. At press time, ETH trades at $3,956, up 3.4% in the past 24 hours.

Featured image from Unsplash.com, charts from strateficethreserve.xyz and TradingView.com

Ethereum‘s ongoing bullish action hasn’t fully faded yet as the general crypto market builds momentum. While Ethereum’s price has displayed a brief surge, the network continues to show weakness in user engagement, even with recent key updates meant to boost the network’s performance and appeal.

On-Chain Engagement With Ethereum Lagging

A leading on-chain data analytics platform, Glassnode, shared a recent worrying report about the Ethereum network. ETH’s price may have displayed signs of resilience in the midst of ongoing market fluctuations, but the network activity tells a different story.

Glassnode has revealed a persistent, weakened performance in ETH’s on-chain activity, raising concerns about whether its core ecosystem is losing momentum. This consistent lack of network activity occurs despite ongoing positive narratives and upgrades.

According to the on-chain platform, the latest key updates, like the Pectra upgrade, have been unable to ignite activity on the network. “Ethereum’s Pectra upgrade hasn’t translated into a spike in network engagement just yet,” the platform stated.

It is worth noting that the Pectra Upgrade was officially launched in early May, with the purpose of bolstering ETH’s network’s scalability and efficiency. The upgrade consists of two synchronized updates: The Prague execution layer hard fork and the Electra consensus layer upgrade.

Glassnode stated that user attrition has decreased, and the Pectra Upgrade still has not increased the number of new or returning users after analyzing the ETH Month-over-Month activity Retention metric. Data from the on-chain platform shows that the average count of new and revived addresses has decreased since the upgrade compared to year-to-date (YTD) values.

ETH’s average new addresses have decreased by about 1.8%, whereas resurrected addresses have declined by 8.4% during this period. Additionally, user churn has witnessed an approximately 8.5% drop in the same time frame. Thus far, Glassnode noted that it remains to be seen whether this is a result of the network upgrades or more general cycle trends.

A Breakout After A Short-Term Correction

Even though network activity has weakened, it does not fully hinder ETH’s price from experiencing a rally. On-chain expert and author ShayanMarkets has predicted an impending breakout to the upside as the Ethereum market overheats near the $2,500 mark. However, a short-term correction is likely to take place before the breakout.

Using a bubble chart that illustrates the total trading volume across all crypto exchanges, the expert highlighted that an overheating scenario, marked by a notable spike in trading volume, has resulted from ETH’s approach to the $2,500 resistance level, now acting as a support level.

This spike is mainly triggered by profit-taking and the available resting supply at this key zone. Furthermore, the overheated situation suggests a probable short-term drop as the market cools and makes room for fresh accumulation. While the altcoin has surpassed $2,500, Shayan’s analysis noted that this move is probably driven by fresh demand.

Featured image from Getty Images, chart from Tradingview.com

DeFi protocol Derive’s Head of Research, Dr. Sean Dawson, has provided a bullish prediction for the Ethereum price. He predicted that the second-largest crypto could rally to as high as $12,000 and explained how the Pectra upgrade could contribute to the parabolic rally. 

Ethereum To Reach $12,000 Thanks To Pectra Upgrade And Other Factors

Dawson predicted that Ethereum could reach $12,000 by the end of the year thanks to the Pectra upgrade, Donald Trump’s presidency, increased adoption, and a surge in ETF inflows. According to the research analyst, this bullish case is possible if the Pectra upgrade is successful. The upgrade is meant to help scale the network and boost user experience. 

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Given Donald Trump’s pro-crypto stance, Dawson is also confident that the US president-elect would create a regulatory-friendly environment, which would support further growth for Ethereum. For ETH to reach this $12,000 target, Dawson also said that Ethereum must witness broader adoption within the real-world assets (RWAs) industry. The network must also become a top player in emerging sectors such as DePIN and AI agents. 

The Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs) also have a role to play in ETH reaching this target. Dawson mentioned that there must be more significant inflows into these funds. He warned that the failure of these funds to attract institutional interest could lead to a bearish case for Ethereum. 

For the bearish case, the research analyst predicted that Ethereum could drop to as low as $2,000 due to a lack of inflows into the Spot ETH ETFs. He noted that this could happen if these funds lose ground to a successful Solana ETF launch. This undoubtedly remains a possibility, considering how Solana dominated last year in terms of network activity. 

Dawson warned that other layer-1 networks are challenging Ethereum’s market share, although he added that this may offer higher risk and reward opportunities. 

ETH Still Bullish Despite Recent Market Downtrend

Crypto analysts have suggested that Ethereum still has a bullish outlook despite the recent market downtrend. In an X post, crypto analyst Moon Carl stated that despite the recent dump, ETH is still trading within a symmetrical triangle on the Daily timeframe. The analyst added that if the support holds, a breakout with a bullish target of $4,100 could be expected. 

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Crypto analyst The Cryptomist also charted a path for Ethereum to reach a new all-time high (ATH). She highlighted a large falling wedge, which was in play with symmetrical deviations. She added that ETH could retest the broken level, then reject to support and insert a 4-hour oversold bullish divergence and then bounce to a new ATH. 

At the time of writing, the Ethereum price is trading at around $3,300, up in the last 24 hours, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

Featured image created with Dall.E, chart from Tradingview.com