In May 2025, the ETH market drew significant attention. According to data from on-chain analysis institution glassnode, ETH price broke through the key "Realized Price" of around $1,900, meaning the average holder turned profitable.
Realized Price Breakthrough
ETH price broke through the "Realized Price" of around $1,900, which represents the average holder's cost basis. According to glassnode analysis, prices above this line indicate average holders are in profit, helping to reduce selling pressure and boost confidence. ETH price subsequently rose from around $1,800 to over $2,550, reflecting a shift towards market optimism.
Pectra Upgrade and Capital Inflow
The Pectra upgrade in early May 2025 injected a catalyst into the market, with ETH's "Realized Cap" increasing from $240.8 billion to around $244.6 billion, with approximately $3.8 billion in new capital flowing in within days. This strong rebound confirms the market's positive response to the upgrade and the restoration of large investor confidence, laying the groundwork for an upward trend.
On-Chain Resistance Analysis
Besides the Realized Price, the "True Market Mean" (around $2,400) and "Active Realized Price" (around $2,900) are also important indicators. glassnode Insights noted that ETH has broken through the True Market Mean, which is the active investors' cost line, indicating new capital inflow.
However, the Active Realized Price of around $2,900 is the current key resistance. Breaking through this price would further consolidate market confidence, but potential profit-taking selling pressure in this range should be noted.
The realized price differences among different position size groups, such as 100-1,000 ETH (cost around $2,225) and 10,000-100,000 ETH (cost around $1,994), also form potential supply and demand intervals.
Network Activity Divergence
Despite positive price and capital inflow performance, on-chain activity data has not grown synchronously. According to Bitcoinist, after the Pectra upgrade, new address creation dropped by about 1.8%, returning address numbers decreased by 8.4%, and user churn rate also declined by about 8.5%, with weak on-chain activity worth noting.
This divergence between price and on-chain activity shows that while the market shows signs of recovery following Bitcoin, whether the fundamental network usage rate keeps up remains to be observed.
