Ethereum faced a notable increase in buying pressure, leading to a bullish rebound at the crucial $1.5K support. The price faces a decisive resistance range at $1.8K, expected to enter a short-term consolidation before breaking above it.

Technical Analysis

By Shayan

The Daily Chart

After a period of muted price action and market inactivity around the decisive $1.5K long-term support region, Ethereum eventually experienced a surge in buying pressure, triggering a bullish rebound. This wave of demand has pushed the price toward the significant $1.8K resistance zone. This area coincides with an important order block, where smart money typically places orders, reinforcing its significance.

The price action at this level is critical; a successful breakout above $1.8K would likely confirm a bullish reversal scenario, opening the path toward the $2.1K target. However, short-term consolidation around this resistance is probable before a decisive move unfolds.

The 4-Hour Chart

On the lower timeframe, ETH’s previous tight-range consolidation was broken by a notable influx of buyers, resulting in an impulsive breakout above the descending channel. This breakout was accompanied by strong bullish momentum, driving the price toward the key $1.8K resistance zone.

This region aligns with Ethereum’s prior swing lows, making it a robust supply area. As a result, short-term consolidation is expected at this level until demand or supply pressure determines the next move. A bullish breakout above $1.8K would set the $2.1K range as the next likely target for buyers.

Sentiment Analysis

By Shayan

The funding rates metric is a crucial indicator of sentiment in the futures markets. Analysing its recent behaviour provides important insights into Ethereum’s latest surge. Typically, healthy and sustainable bullish trends are accompanied by rising funding rates, signalling an influx of buyers in both the perpetual futures and spot markets.

Currently, however, funding rates are consolidating and showing no significant increase. This suggests that Ethereum’s recent price surge has primarily been driven by spot market buying rather than futures market speculation. For this bullish trend to be validated and gain persistence, the funding rates metric needs to start rising, reflecting growing confidence and aggressive buying in the futures market as well.

XRP’s price posted a +6% green candle for the week on Friday, but other than BNB at +2% and TRX down -1%, it trailed the top 10 crypto assets by market cap. BTC posted +12% gains, ETH +12%, SOL +15%, DOGE +18%, ADA +17%, and SUI an eye-catching +74% candle.

So Ripple’s token may be undervalued at a long-term outlook, and the value buy this weekend for long-term holding crypto investors shopping out of the most favored assets by online and commercial telecom markets.

Here are five recent developments keeping market demand rolling for the massive cross-border payments company’s signature fleet of XRP tokens:

1. XRP Flips Ethereum in Diluted Market Cap

HISTORIC: $XRP FLIPS $ETH

After 6 straight months of outperforming #Ethereum, #XRP has officially become the second-largest asset by fully diluted market cap.

The numbers?

• XRP: $208.4B


• ETH: $192.5B

No hype. No dreams.


Just onchain facts. pic.twitter.com/FcO5p4UCEF

— John Squire (@TheCryptoSquire) April 18, 2025

XRP’s fully diluted market cap is nearly 1/8th of Bitcoin’s in April. That is a remarkable development and a key fundamental metric in the supply/demand economics at play in the daily market price of these currencies.

Bitcoin’s market cap on Friday, Apr. 25, was $1.8 trillion. Ethereum’s was $215 billion, and XRP’s was a distant third at $128 billion.

But, its fully diluted market cap is the market capitalization if all the currency’s tokens were in circulation. By that metric, XRP surpassed ETH for the first time in the final stretch of April.

That’s important over the long term because XRP is supposed to become a scarce digital token with a supply cap of 100 billion coins. Meanwhile, Internet and institutional demand for the asset is high, and its use case is focused yet plentiful with expansion opportunities.

2. Paul Atkins Sworn In As New SEC Chair

Meanwhile, after Ripple’s lengthy and costly lawsuit with the SEC, Paul Atkins assumed office as the new agency Chair on Apr. 21, which is especially important for XRP market prices.

In the private sector, Atkins helped develop best practices for cryptocurrencies for a global strategy, hedge, and regulatory consultancy he founded. This has raised hopes of a final resolution to the lagging Dec. 2020 lawsuit against Ripple Labs.

There are many vast institutional conglomerates that rely on the SEC to do business and won’t invest in something the agency is suing. Only time will tell how many of them are waiting on the government with their eye on Ripple prices.

Patrick Bet-David of the “Valuetainment” YouTube podcast recently said that if the lawsuit is dropped, it will have a big impact on XRP prices going forward.

3. Coinbase Launches CFTC-Regulated XRP Futures

Furthermore, the Nasdaq-listed US crypto exchange Coinbase just launched a CFTC-regulated XRP futures product in April.

This could be a test for demand for XRP from cautious institutional investors and a potential leading indicator for new price support when things with the SEC are finally settled, pat and dry.

But it may be a big hit with leverage traders who find crypto’s volatile markets, with their frequent big double-digit daily swings, not exciting enough without multiplying the risk-reward factor.

Coinbase announced the new feature on X on Apr. 3 and rolled it out on Apr. 21.

Coinbase Derivatives, LLC now offers CFTC-regulated futures for $XRP. https://t.co/omSNu0aEoC

— Coinbase Institutional ️ (@CoinbaseInsto) April 21, 2025

4. Whales Are Buying The XRP Dip in April

“Whales are taking over!” Brett Crypto X tweeted on Apr. 21 to some 90K followers.

Whales are taking over!$XRP trading volume just exceeded 20 million in a single minute.


You see this? This is real utility. pic.twitter.com/YofRSjdRGW

— Brett (@Brett_Crypto_X) April 21, 2025

The last time Brett Crypto X warned about XRP was in the middle of a strong upward trend channel that lasted for months until the financial industry took a haircut, starting in February, over trade jitters.

In one of the threads, a replier begged Crypto X to tell them what blockchain updates software gives them that Star Trek-looking market cap monitor.

Crypto whales have an affinity for trading Ripple and are supporting XRP prices in April. Addresses between 10 million and 100 million XRP moved in April to make up about 1% more of the total share of circulating tokens.

Whale support means greater scarcity and higher exchange prices for a token economy, but add to its risk of future volatility if whales sell.

However, many whales on the blockchain are likely conscious of its economy and other peers and seem to follow Satoshi Nakamoto’s example by waiting months or even years to trade such substantial amounts.

5. Ripple Daily Active Addresses Surge

$XRP network activity jumped 67.50%, with active addresses rising from 27,352 to 40,366! pic.twitter.com/fDiERMIYiz

— Ali (@ali_charts) April 21, 2025

Ripple also saw its daily active addresses surge 67% from 27K to 40K over ten days in mid-April. That’s a more fundamental analysis of the tension against the market valuation of the most recent crypto rally.

Meanwhile, the XRP price chart exhibited an inverse head and shoulders pattern, usually a bullish formation indicating the beginning of a rally in the asset’s price.

The combination of fundamental/market decoupling and bullish technical indicators signals that XRP prices in the last week of April may be hiding bigger green candles.