🚨 Ethereum at Crossroads: $4,100 Holds the Key After 15% Plunge – Top Analyst Warns

Ethereum's bulls are sweating as the crypto giant teeters on a knife-edge. A brutal 15% drop has left ETH clinging to the $4,100 level—and one top analyst claims this is the line in the sand.

The make-or-break moment: Lose this support, and the bears could drag ETH back to Q1 lows. Hold it? Traders might just get the springboard they need for another run at all-time highs.

Why Wall Street 'experts' hate this: Meanwhile, traditional finance pundits are clutching their pearls—nothing terrifies them more than an asset that actually moves 15% in a week without a 47-page prospectus.

Ethereum (ETH) briefly popped into the low-$3,700s today, trading around $3,720 midday after a 2.98% jump from yesterday’s close. That surge was driven in part by whales scooping up roughly $50 million worth of ETH, according to on-chain data. It helped snap a brief pullback that took prices down nearly 15% from late-July highs.

14,575 #ETH (54,263,481 USD) transferred from #FalconX to unknown wallethttps://t.co/7PjBDsGQvM

Liquidity remains ample, with trading volumes holding above $30 billion. It is a sign that institutional traders are still showing up despite the recent volatility. Looking ahead, almost everyone in the charts community has their eye on $4,100. As analyst Michaël van de Poppe put it: “Unfortunately, $ETH couldn’t get all the way towards the grey box, but it did grant a 15% correction.”

Unfortunately, $ETH couldn't get all the way towards the grey box, but it did grant a 15% correction.

The $4,100 resistance area remains to be interesting, as that's the crucial resistance #Ethereum needs to break through in order to get new ATHs. pic.twitter.com/yvnxSbiOAK

Technical models echo that view. ETH flirted with the $4K zone late last week before its pullback. Recent ethereum price forecasts argue that once $4,100 is decisively cleared, it could open the door back toward the old all-time high near $4,865. Until then, traders are playing a familiar tug-of-war. Bulls are defending recent gains and bears are ready to pounce on any sign of weakness.

Ethereum’s Make-or-Break Level

You’ll want to keep an eye on both trading volume and on-chain flows in the coming days. If ethereum can clear that $4,100 hurdle with conviction, it could flip the script entirely, think fresh bullish headlines and a fast track back toward its old highs. But stumble there again, and you might see it slide back toward the mid-$3,500s.

Right now, the first line of defense sits around $3,650, the same level that marked July’s lower Bollinger Band. Break below that, and the $3,500–$3,550 zone becomes the next magnet, lining up with the 50-day moving average and recent swing lows. On the flipside, if buyers can push through $3,785, a run at the $4,000 mark suddenly looks much more plausible, and then it’s just a question of clearing that last $4,100–$4,150 window before setting sights on Ethereum’s 2021 peak of $4,865.

Of course, it’s not just charts calling the shots. Traders are also digesting broader market cues, most notably, growing confidence in a September rate cut by the Fed, which tends to lift risk assets across the board. And don’t forget EIP-4844, the much-anticipated data-sharding upgrade that could finally bring rollup fees back down. All of that momentum is feeding into Ethereum’s longer-term story, even as price action plays out day to day.