Ether is trading near $1,965 after failing to get back above $2,500 since January 31. That long stall has made traders ask what could push the next move. Ether hit a local low near $1,744 on February 6, and many chart watchers now see $1,800 as a key support zone. If Ether keeps holding that area, bulls will keep aiming for a return to $2,500.
One chart that traders are watching tracks daily net flows for US-listed spot Ether ETFs. The flow chart shows about $327 million in net outflows during February. That looks negative at first, since Ether is still far below its all-time high. But the same data also shows those outflows are small compared with the total size of these funds. In other words, the ETF market did not see a full exit. It saw light selling that can flip fast if sentiment turns. For trading, ETF flow often acts like volume for the institutional side of the market. Red days in flows can match selling pressure, while steady inflows can help Ether build higher lows.
Price action still matters most. Ether needs strong buying volume to clear the $2,500 area. Traders often look for a clean break above a round number like $2,000, then a push through the next resistance. If Ether rises on growing spot volume and the ETF flow chart shifts from outflows to inflows, that would support the idea that a base is forming. If Ether climbs on weak volume and flows stay negative, rallies can fade.
Three stories are feeding the bull case for Ether even while price stays choppy: endowment interest, a staking ETF push, and real-world asset growth on Ethereum.
First, filings show Harvard’s endowment opened a new position worth about $87 million in BlackRock’s iShares Ethereum Trust in the fourth quarter of 2025. At the same time, it reduced its iShares Bitcoin Trust position to about $266 million. This matters because big endowments tend to move slowly. When they add Ether exposure, it signals that Ether is not just a trade. It is becoming a long-term allocation for some large pools of capital. That does not guarantee a higher Ether price next week, but it supports the idea that dips can attract buyers over time.
Second, BlackRock updated its plan for a staked Ether ETF. The revised filing describes an 0.25% expense ratio and a structure where an 18% cut of staking rewards is retained as a staking fee, with part of that used to pay service providers involved in staking operations. Some traders dislike the 18% cut, but the bigger point is that staking yield is moving into a familiar wrapper. A staking ETF could make it easier for mainstream investors to gain Ether exposure while also getting staking rewards without running validators or dealing with technical setup. If more investors see Ether as both a growth asset and a yield asset, demand can rise.
Third, the real-world asset market is growing, and Ethereum remains the main chain for it. Another chart tracks RWA value onchain and shows the sector above $20 billion in total onchain market cap. Ethereum holds a large share of that value, with billions in deposits tied to tokenized assets. Data also shows a big chunk of Ethereum’s RWA value comes from tokenized gold, while tokenized Treasurys, bonds, and money market products have also grown. This is one reason many institutions choose Ethereum even when other chains offer lower fees. For them, security, liquidity, and a deep ecosystem matter more than saving a small amount on gas.
These RWA trends connect back to Ether price in a simple way: most serious activity on Ethereum still depends on Ether as the base asset for fees and settlement. Even when projects use layer-2 networks or closed pools, the broader system often settles back to Ethereum. As more tokenized Treasurys and other RWAs move onchain, the network’s role as a neutral settlement layer becomes more important, and that can support the long-term case for Ether.
That brings up another topic that sounds technical but links to the same theme: Ethereum’s push to improve censorship resistance and reduce harmful MEV behavior. Recent proposals around enshrined proposer-builder separation, fork-choice enforced inclusion lists, and encrypted mempools aim to make transaction inclusion more neutral and to reduce the incentive for private order flow. The idea is to make the public mempool safer, so users do not need to route trades through a small set of powerful builders. For institutions, neutral settlement is not a slogan. It is a requirement. If Ethereum can improve fairness at the transaction layer, it can help keep large players comfortable building and issuing RWAs on Ethereum. That supports adoption, and adoption supports demand for Ether.
For traders, the near-term map is still clear. Ether needs to defend the $1,800 area, build higher lows, and then attack $2,500 with real strength. Watch the ETF flow chart like you would watch volume. If flows stabilize and turn positive while spot volume rises on up days, Ether has a better shot at breaking resistance. If flows stay weak and volume dries up into rallies, Ether may keep ranging.
