Ethereum price prediction: top reasons ETH may soar in 2026

Ethereum price retreated for three consecutive days, erasing some of the gains made earlier this month. ETH dropped to $3,152, down from this year’s high of $3,300. This article explores the top reasons why ETH price will eventually rebound this year.

BitMine Ethereum purchases

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One main reason why the Ethereum price may rebound this year is because of the aggressive purchases by BitMine, the company that Tom Lee runs.

BitMine has been the most aggressive Ethereum buyers in the past few months. It has bought 278,551 coins in the last 30 days, bringing its total purchases to 4.14 million coins worth over $13 billion.

The company has more room to go in its Bitcoin purchase as it hopes to accumulate 6 million coins over time. There is also a slim chance that it will boost its target, especially if it manages to increase its share capacity from 500 million to 50 billion.

Ethereum will launch two major upgrades this year

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The other bullish catalyst for the Ethereum price is that the developers will implement the Glamsterdam and Hegota upgrades later this year. These will be the most important upgrades after the developers implemented the Fusaka upgrade in December.

Glamsterdam aims to improve fairness, predictability, and trustlessness in block building. For example, the upgrade will enshrine proposal-builder separation to mitigate MEV centralization risks.

The upgrade will also introduce deterministic block-level access lists for more predictable execution. It will also introduce benchmarked gas repricing.

The Hegota upgrade will introduce verkle trees, which will reduce node storage requirements. Its goal will be to enhance fairness and predictability. It is common for cryptocurrency prices to rise before and after major upgrades.

Growing market share in key industries

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The other notable catalyst forthe Ethereum price is that the network’s market share continues growing in key areas. The most important one in all this is in the real-world asset (RWA) tokenization, where its assets jumped to over $12 billion.

This growth continued last month when JPMorgan analysts launched the first tokenized fund on the network. Other companies are now using Ethereum, including large names like Janus Henderson and WisdomTree.

The decentralized finance (DeFi) industry will likely continue rising in the near term. Its total value locked (TVL) has jumped to over $147 billion, while its bridged TVL jumped to over $465 billion.

ETH ETF inflows

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Ethereum price may also benefit from the upcoming ETF inflows. Data shows that spot Ethereum ETFs have added over $358 million in inflows, reversing the losses in the previous two months.

This ETF inflow growth will likely continue rising now that Morgan Stanley has filed for a spot ETH ETF. This is notable as it is one of the biggest companies in Wall Street with over $1.8 trillion in assets under management.

Macro factors have a role to play this year, with the Federal Reserve expected to continue cutting interest rates. Also, the Senate will likely pass the CLARITY Act.

Ethereum price technical analysis

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ETH price chart | Source: TradingView

The twelve-hour chart shows that the ETH price has done well in the past few months, moving from a low of $2,768 in December to the current $3,155.

It has formed a double-bottom pattern, a popular bullish reversal chart pattern whose neckline at $3,478. The coin has moved above the 23.6% Fibonacci Retracement level.

Ethereum has also formed an ascending triangle pattern. Therefore, the token will likely continue rising as bulls target the key resistance level at $4,000. This rebound will be confirmed if it moves above the key resistance level at $3,478.