Ethereum’s 2025 Nightmare: Nine Red Months Deliver Worst Performance Since 2018

Ethereum just closed out a brutal 2025—bleeding for nine consecutive months in a historic downturn not seen since the crypto winter of 2018.

What Went Wrong in 2025?

The numbers tell a grim story. Nine months of consistent decline. A performance metric that hasn't looked this bad in seven years. It's a stark contrast to the ecosystem's promises of unstoppable, decentralized finance.

The Aftermath and the Road Ahead

Such a prolonged slump forces a harsh reality check. It shakes developer confidence, tests investor patience, and gives traditional finance skeptics all the ammunition they need for their 'I told you so' lectures. Remember when finance was boring? Sometimes boring sounds pretty good after nine months of red.

Yet, within Ethereum's core community, this is framed not as a catastrophe, but as a necessary purge—a shakeout of weak hands before the next paradigm shift. The real question isn't about surviving a bad year; it's about what gets built in the quiet desperation that follows.

ETH lagged in dollar terms despite a climb against BTC

In 2025, ETH lost the faith of retail investors and instead became a playground for whales and institutions. ETH whales attempted to achieve a more favorable average price by buying the dip, but the token did not have enough momentum to break out. ETH failed to fulfill the prediction of Bitmine’s Tom Lee for a hike to $7,500 or even $10,000 at the end of the year. 

The token ended the year with 11.9% in market cap dominance. Over the course of 2025, ETH managed to recover from lows of 0.019 BTC to end the year at 0.034 BTC. Despite this, the token did not fulfill the expectations of expanding to $10,000. 

The weak ETH performance also coincided with the failure to launch a more lasting altcoin season. The weakness of L2 performance also affected Ethereum, as liquidity left even top networks like Arbitrum.

Treasury companies only had a brief effect on the price of ETH. Unlike BTC treasuries, building up ETH reserves was viewed as a means to earn passive income through staking. Even DAT companies did not show conviction in the climb of ETH, but instead on the token’s DeFi and staking ecosystem. 

ETH recovered the $3,000 range

Despite the downturn, ETH managed to recover the $3,000 range. The token mostly traded above the acquisition price of whales at $2,800, bouncing from this support level. The asset ended 2025 with a net loss of 11% after turbulent shifts each quarter. 

The token had its worst quarterly performance at the start of 2025, losing over 45%. Later, ETH managed to bounce off the mid-year slump and spend several weeks above $4,000. ETH moved to $3,079.92 as of January 2, following a market-wide recovery. 

The token ended 2025 with a neutral market sentiment, following weeks of relatively subdued derivative trading. Following the October 11 liquidation, ETH open interest declined to a low of $16.2B, recovering to $18B by the end of 2025. 

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