Ethereum’s Pectra upgrade could serve as catalyst, but market sentiment ‘remains lukewarm,’ analysts warn

Despite a $500 million influx into spot Ethereum ETFs, the second-largest crypto by market cap continues to struggle with little price movement.

Ethereum’s (ETH) price is still stuck, even with spot exchange-traded fund investments rolling in. Despite ETH retracing most of its gains from the Trump election rally in November 2024, demand from long-term investors appears to be increasing, analysts at Matrixport say, pointing to increased ETH purchases by members of the World Financial Liberty, a decentralized finance group tied to President Donald Trump.

As crypto.news mentioned before, World Liberty Financial plans to create a “strategic reserve” with altcoins they’ve bought, though the exact purpose of the reserve is still unclear.

Even with WFL picking up more Ethereum, market sentiment stays cautious ahead of Ethereum’s Pectra upgrade, which is set to launch on the Holesky and Sepolia testnets in February and March, with the mainnet coming in April. Unlike past upgrades, expectations for a significant price movement are low, the analysts note.

“Without a clear bullish catalyst, ETH prices may continue to struggle, and Ethereum’s market dominance has already dropped to just 10%.”

Matrixport

The broader altcoin market, including Dogecoin (DOGE), XRP (XRP), and Solana (SOL), has also faced downward pressure. As crypto.news reported earlier, the fear and greed index had dropped to 35, its lowest level since October 2024, signaling increasing fear in the market. Historically, a fearful market tends to lead to declines in cryptocurrency prices.

The altcoin season index has also fallen to 33, down from 47 at the start of the year, suggesting weaker demand for altcoins compared to Bitcoin (BTC). While Bitcoin has remained relatively stable, the decline in the altcoin index signals that investors are increasingly favoring Bitcoin over other cryptocurrencies.