Ethereum Price Now: A Market Under Pressure

As of mid‑February 2026, Ethereum is trading just under 2,000 USD after a sharp multi‑week drawdown, with sentiment cautious but showing early signs of stabilization as ETF outflows ease and leverage is flushed from the system. ycharts

Current Ethereum Price Snapshot

Data from major trackers shows Ether changing hands around 1,960–1,970 USD on 16 February 2026, down roughly 5–6% over the past 24 hours. YCharts, which sources from CoinGecko, reports an ETH price of 1,963.96 USD for 16 February, compared with 2,085.52 USD the previous day and 2,692.82 USD one year earlier, implying a 5.83% daily drop and a 27% decline year‑on‑year. MetaMask’s price feed similarly puts ETH at 1,965.73 USD on the day, corroborating the sub‑2,000 level.

For context from an Indian market perspective, India Today’s crypto dashboard shows Ether at about ₹177,930 on 16 February, with a 24‑hour change of −4.9% and a steep 30‑day loss of −40.29%. Over 60 and 90 days, ETH is down roughly 30–35% in INR terms, highlighting that this is not just a short blip but part of a broader retracement from late‑2025 highs.

How We Got Here: From 3,300+ to Below 2,000

Steep Slide Through Late January and Early February

Price history over the last month shows how dramatic the move has been. On 15–16 January, ETH traded around 3,300–3,350 USD, then hovered near 3,000 USD through late January before rolling over hard. By 31 January it had already slipped to around 2,700–2,800 USD, and the selling accelerated into early February. On 5 February alone, Binance‑tracked data shows a near 15% intraday drop as Ether fell from around 2,150 USD at the open to 1,830 USD at the close.

A detailed February 3 market note from Tapbit describes ETH collapsing to a 2026 low near 2,110 USD that week, a 28% seven‑day decline and roughly 57% below the August 2025 cycle peak around 4,900 USD. This move coincided with risk‑off contagion from a weakening Nasdaq, deeply negative perpetual futures funding rates, over 2 billion USD in long liquidations, and a break of key technical support levels in the 2,550–2,600 USD range.

Technical Structure: From Uptrend to Capitulation

Earlier analyses in January had highlighted a bullish structure, with some technical strategists even targeting 3,600 USD by February or March as ETH traded comfortably above 3,200 USD and key moving averages. That outlook was invalidated as the asset lost the 3,000 USD region and then sliced through successive supports, turning what looked like consolidation into a full‑blown deleveraging event.

More recent work from Binance Research and other analysts now frames ETH’s chart as a large descending wedge: lower highs and lower lows but with a compressing range that historically can precede a major trend reversal. However, they stress that such patterns are not guarantees, and with prices currently far below the first major support region they previously cited around 2,690 USD, the wedge thesis has clearly been stress‑tested. Binance

ETF Flows and Institutional Positioning

From Heavy Outflows to Tentative Stabilization

One of the clearest institutional signals comes from spot Ethereum ETFs. Tapbit’s crash analysis notes roughly 447 million USD of net outflows from U.S. spot ETH ETFs over five trading sessions into early February, led by a 264 million USD redemption from BlackRock’s flagship product; ETF assets under management slid to about 15.86 billion USD, representing roughly 4.9% of total ETH supply. These redemptions removed a key source of spot demand right as leverage was being unwound.

More recent flow data suggests some stabilization. KuCoin’s ETF flow summary shows that after three straight days of outflows totaling 177.02 million USD between 4–6 February, Ethereum ETFs flipped back to net inflows on 9–10 February, with 57.05 million USD on 9 February and 13.82 million USD on 10 February, for a weekly net inflow of 70.87 million USD. Even so, the ETF asset base shrank from about 20.42 billion USD on 16 January to 11.76 billion USD on 10 February, and cumulative net flows have fallen by about 1.03 billion USD from their January peak, signalling that institutions have been net sellers over the last month despite the latest bounce.

Aggregator dashboards such as CoinMarketCap’s Ethereum ETF page show that by mid‑February net flows had turned modestly positive again on a daily basis, but from a much smaller asset base than at the start of the year. The big picture: ETF investors have pulled significant capital since mid‑January, then slowed or partially reversed those outflows as prices dropped, suggesting value‑oriented dip‑buying but no decisive re‑risking yet. Coinmarketcap

Whales Accumulating, Institutions Cautious

On‑chain and holder behavior paints a nuanced picture. A late‑January analysis of Ethereum market structure highlights that “Hodler Net Position Change” remained positive throughout January, meaning long‑term wallets on balance accumulated ETH even as price weakened. That report estimates that large holders added nearly 4 million ETH during dips, underscoring that crypto‑native whales are treating drawdowns as buying opportunities rather than an exit signal.

At the same time, those same analysts emphasize that institutional investors via ETFs remain cautious, with January and early‑February ETF flows often negative or only mildly positive. They frame this as a split market: whales optimistic and adding exposure; ETFs and traditional funds de‑risking or rotating more aggressively into Bitcoin. This combination tends to favor sharp relief rallies but limits the probability of a sustained new bull leg until macro conditions and spot demand improve.

Derivatives, Funding Rates and Sentiment

Forced Deleveraging and Liquidations

The derivatives backdrop explains much of the recent violence. Tapbit’s February 3 note highlights that during the crash to 2,110 USD, ETH perpetual futures funding flipped deeply negative, with longs paying shorts and more than 2 billion USD of long positions liquidated in a short window. This kind of forced deleveraging tends to mark late stages of a sell‑off, as highly leveraged traders are flushed out.

A more recent report on derivatives from AInvest, dated 13 February, shows the process still underway: total crypto futures open interest fell nearly 15% in 24 hours to 63.38 billion USD, while Ethereum futures open interest dropped 8.26% to 36.26 billion USD, alongside 679 million USD in liquidated bullish positions. Funding rates remain negative and sentiment fragile, but the scale of the reduction suggests a lot of “froth” has already been removed from the market.

Fear, Wedges and Contrarian Signals

Several analysts note that sentiment indicators such as the Crypto Fear & Greed index have fallen into “extreme fear” territory (roughly 14–19 on the scale) during this downswing, conditions similar to prior capitulation phases that eventually preceded strong medium‑term rebounds. The same Binance‑linked analysis that described a descending wedge pattern also points to bullish divergence on the RSI (price making new lows while RSI does not), which historically can hint at a weakening of selling pressure.

However, those sources are careful to differentiate between a setup for tradable bounces and the start of a durable new cycle. With ETF flows still well below January’s peaks and derivatives markets showing continued risk‑off positioning, the consensus tone for the immediate future is “volatile, skewed to choppy rebounds rather than a straight line higher.”

What to Expect in the Coming Weeks

Short-Term Price Scenarios

Short‑horizon forecasting models are, unsurprisingly, divided. Algorithmic projections compiled by Changelly as of 14 February suggest a base‑case path where ETH gradually grinds higher from around 2,080 USD toward the mid‑2,000s over the next 30 days, with their March projections clustering in the 2,300–2,500 USD range. Binance and BeInCrypto technical outlooks focus more on key ranges than exact numbers: they see upside scenarios hinging first on ETH reclaiming and holding above 2,000–2,100 USD, then re‑establishing the 3,000 USD region as support later in the quarter.

On the downside, those same analyses emphasize that if ETH cannot hold above recent crash lows, the door opens to a retest of the 2,120 USD zone highlighted in February crash commentary and, in more pessimistic cases, a slide back toward the high‑1,000s. Given the current price just under 2,000 USD and still‑negative funding, a reasonable baseline is a wide, volatile range with sharp squeezes in both directions rather than a smooth trend.

Role of ETF Flows and Macro Drivers

Over the next few weeks, three factors are likely to dominate ETH price action:

First, spot ETF flows: if the tentative return to positive flows seen around 9–10 February continues and daily net inflows build, that would signal institutions are starting to buy the dip and could help ETH stabilize above 2,000 USD. Conversely, another wave of heavy redemptions—on the order of the 447 million USD of outflows seen across five sessions earlier this month—would likely put renewed pressure on price and make new lows more probable.

Second, derivatives positioning: a further normalization of funding rates toward neutral and a stabilization in open interest after the recent 8–15% drop would indicate that forced selling is abating, reducing tail‑risk of another violent liquidation cascade. If, instead, funding remains strongly negative and open interest rapidly rebuilds on the short side, ETH could be prone to whipsaw moves as shorts and longs battle for control.

Third, macro and Bitcoin correlation: Tapbit explicitly tied ETH’s early‑February leg lower to Nasdaq weakness, while Binance’s cycle analysis notes that Bitcoin ETF flows turned sharply negative in late 2025 and early 2026, draining liquidity from risk assets more broadly. Any renewed equity market stress or additional outflows from Bitcoin ETFs would likely weigh on ETH as well, given their high correlation and shared investor base.

Key Levels and Takeaways for Traders and Investors

Technical commentators broadly highlight 2,000–2,100 USD as the immediate battleground: holding this band would support the idea that February’s washout was capitulation, while sustained trading below it would leave ETH vulnerable to deeper tests of support. On the upside, reclaiming 2,500 USD and then 3,000 USD would be early confirmation that spot demand—possibly via ETFs and long‑term holders—is strong enough to absorb remaining selling pressure.

For now, market structure looks like this: price is deeply off its 2025 highs, ETF investors have been de‑risking but may be starting to nibble again, whales are accumulating on‑chain, and derivatives markets are in the late stages of a painful deleveraging with sentiment tilted toward fear. That mix tends to favor high‑volatility, mean‑reversion trades in the short term, with the medium‑term direction likely to be decided by whether ETF and spot flows turn decisively positive or whether macro headwinds and risk aversion persist.

None of this guarantees a specific outcome over the coming weeks, but it does frame the key drivers to watch: daily ETH ETF net flows, funding rates and liquidation data, and how ETH behaves around the 2,000 USD area. Anyone positioning around Ethereum in this environment should treat it as a high‑risk asset, size exposure carefully, and be prepared for rapid swings in both directions as the market searches for a new equilibrium.