Behind ETH's 7% surge past $3,300: the triple drive of capital, ecosystem, and technology

According to the latest news, as of January 14th, ETH is trading at $3,323.18, up 7.00% in the past 24 hours, with a market capitalization increase of $26.257 billion to $401.09 billion. This rally is not an isolated event but the result of combined effects from capital flows, ecological fundamentals, and technical factors.

Capital Flows: Continuous Accumulation by Whales and Institutions

On-chain data shows that the movements of large funds best illustrate the situation. Major whales, when ETH broke above $3,300, had a 3x leveraged long position of 20,000 ETH with an unrealized profit of $4.55 million; another whale recently added a long position of 1,600 ETH worth $5.32 million in the past two hours; there is also a whale with a $13 million ETH long position. These large buy orders are not short-term speculation but are based on medium- to long-term bullish outlooks.

The actions of institutional investors more accurately reflect confidence. According to the latest news, BitMine has increased its ETH staking in batches over the past week, with total staked assets reaching $4.77 billion. This continuous increase in staking indicates institutional investors’ confidence in ETH’s medium- to long-term value, rather than chasing short-term volatility.

Key Data Comparison

Ecosystem: On-Chain Application Value Continues to Deepen

Another support for ETH’s rally comes from the ongoing deepening of ecosystem application value. According to the latest information, Ethereum holds a core position in the stablecoin ecosystem, handling over two-thirds of Revolut platform’s stablecoin payment volume. The platform’s stablecoin payments grew by 156% year-over-year to $10.5 billion in 2025, indicating rapid growth in real-world applications on the ETH chain.

In the real-world asset tokenization (RWA) sector, Ondo Finance has deployed approximately 77% of its assets on Ethereum, accounting for 11.6% of the total TVL in the ETH RWA track, highlighting ETH’s key role in on-chain real-world asset settlement. Additionally, the strategic partnership between Safe and Ethena Labs will promote gasless transactions and high-multiplier reward incentives on Ethereum, with about $6.6 billion in stablecoins managed via Safe multisig custody.

These ecosystem application expansions directly boost investor confidence in ETH’s fundamentals, supporting the price increase.

Technical Outlook: Uptrend Channel Formed, but Risk Levels Need Attention

From a technical perspective, ETH’s downward momentum has weakened, and it has re-entered the upward channel established since April last year. According to technical analysis, the target levels are approximately $5,413 and an aggressive target of $7,155, laying a foundation for further upward movement.

Liquidation Risk Levels

However, the high-level short-term pressure cannot be ignored:

• If ETH falls below $3,161, the liquidation strength on major exchanges for long positions will reach $1.442 billion
• If it breaks above $3,489, short position liquidations could reach $629 million
• In the past 24 hours, total liquidations amounted to $209 million, with ETH short liquidations at $29.85 million, exceeding long liquidations

This indicates that longs are gradually taking profits during the breakout, requiring additional capital to sustain the upward trend.

Future Focus Areas

According to the latest views from the Ethereum Foundation, ZK technology will become a key focus for Ethereum’s mid-term development, potentially bringing new performance improvements to the ecosystem. Meanwhile, Vitalik’s discussions on decentralized stablecoins point toward the next innovation direction for ETH’s ecosystem—more efficient on-chain financial infrastructure.

Summary

This 7% increase in ETH reflects a resonance of three driving forces: sustained accumulation by whales and institutions, continuous deepening of on-chain application value, and the formation of an upward technical channel. However, it is important to note that high-level liquidation risks also exist, with $3,161 and $3,489 being two critical risk points. From a longer-term perspective, improvements in the ecosystem fundamentals are the true foundation for ETH’s sustained growth, rather than short-term capital inflows alone.