After a disappointing performance in February, Ethereum price has shown some signs of relief in the past two weeks. Due to stable market conditions, the “king of altcoins” has managed to hold on near the psychological $2,000 level.
As expected, this was enough to get reticent investors excited about the future of the Ether token. However, one market analyst has given reasons to believe that Ethereum buyers may be holding back, at least for the time being.
Multiple indicators align to reflect high stress in the market
In a recent post on social media platform X, on-chain analyst Boris highlighted data from three indicators that show pressure is starting to build on the Ethereum market. According to the analyst, if the current situation continues, the second-largest cryptocurrency could enter a capitulation phase.
Market pundits began their analysis with the Net Unrealized Gain and Loss (NUPL) metric, which measures an investor’s overall profit or loss by comparing ETH’s current market value to the price the coin last moved on-chain. In his post, Boris shared that NUPL is currently at a negative level, suggesting that Ethereum investors may be facing unrealized losses.
Ethereum may be nearing a major surrender zone
Some key on-chain signals are starting to fall into place.
• NUPL: Negative → Investors have unrealized losses
• Price: below realized price (approximately $22,000) → market remains under pressure
• Days of profit: 134,000 days of profit… pic.twitter.com/rHNw1Pn0i8— Boris. (@Fundingvest) March 12, 2026
Another key metric cited is the realized price metric, which represents the average price at which all coins in circulation were last moved on-chain. In his tweet, Boris noted that the altcoin is currently trading below its realized price of $2,200.
If the market falls below this level, it indicates that the average Ethereum investor is on the hook for losses. Therefore, as the market price continues to fluctuate below the realized price, this on-chain signal is interpreted as the level of pressure being felt by Ethereum investors.
Source: @Fundingvest on X
Additionally, Boris mentioned the “days spent in profit” metric in his analysis, noting that the Ethereum network recently ended a staggering 1,340-day streak during which the majority of Ether tokens in circulation remained profitable.
Analysts explained that this is often a signal that the market cycle has ended. This speculation is consistent with historical events and tends to appear near the bottom of a bear market.
Despite the current situation, Boris warned that NUPL would need to move deeper towards the yield zone between -0.5 and -1 for a bottom to form. If the Ethereum price experiences another round of decline, the indicator may enter a surrender zone where several investors may be forced to abandon their positions, an event that is most likely to be exploited by long-term traders (diamond hands).
Ethereum price overview
As of this writing, Ethereum’s price is around $2,092, reflecting a drop of over 1% from the previous day.
The price of ETH on the daily timeframe | Source: ETHUSDT chart on TradingView
Featured images from DALL-E, charts from TradingView
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