Ethereum (ETH) has climbed back above the average price its holders paid, ending 108 days below that cost basis as the token tests $2,500.
Key Points:
- ETH has reclaimed its realized price after 108 days below the average holder cost basis.
- US spot Ethereum funds took in $824.42 million in the week ending Aug. 28, a 2026 high.
- Repeated stalls near $2,500 show buyers have not secured the level yet.
Ethereum Reclaims Realized Price
On-chain figures from analytics firm Alphractal dated Ethereum's stretch below that line at 108 days. The realized price tracks what every holder collectively paid for the coins they still control, so a move above it puts the average investor back into unrealized profit. Fewer trapped sellers usually means less forced supply.
Not every provider draws the line in the same place. FXStreet, citing CryptoQuant, pegged the cost basis at $2,306 when ETH broke through in late August, a gap from the Alphractal reading that reflects differing methods rather than any dispute over direction.
History argues for some caution here, since profit-taking often picks up the first time a price clears its cost basis after a long stretch below it. Retail wallets holding 100 to 1,000 ETH shed 207,000 coins over the prior week, while wallets holding 10,000 to 100,000 ETH added 182,000. Larger holders absorbed what smaller ones released.
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ETF Demand Tests $2,500 Ceiling
US spot Ethereum funds attracted $824.42 million in the week ending Aug. 28, the category's best showing of 2026, according to SoSoValue data. The previous week brought in $697.18 million.
BlackRock's iShares Ethereum Trust took $567.03 million of the latest weekly total, followed by Fidelity's FETH at $96.5 million and 21Shares' ETHB at $77.29 million. Net assets across the ether funds climbed 35.9% to $14.3 billion from $10.5 billion over the earlier week, a jump that reflected price gains as much as fresh money. Buyers have still not turned that demand into a breakout, and more than $1 billion in inflows failed to lift ETH durably above $2,500 as profit-taking capped each attempt near $2,545.
Ethereum's August Rebound
Ethereum spent most of 2026 as an underperformer among the major tokens, trading near $1,800 early in August before a rebound of more than 30% carried it to roughly $2,545 on Aug. 21. The 14-day RSI has since sat in the high 70s.
The token has moved in a band between about $2,400 and $2,530 since that peak, still far below the record near $4,946 set in August 2025.
Ether funds also remain about $191.8 million in net outflows for the year, which leaves the August surge as a recovery from a weak start rather than a full reversal. Daily closes above the cost basis will settle the question, not one spike through it.
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