Ethereum ($ETH) is retesting a critical resistance line that has only been touched twice before—in 2021 and again around 2025. According to trader Crypto Patel, this third test represents the “biggest breakout setup yet” for the cryptocurrency.
In a chart shared Friday, Patel outlined a potential path toward $5,000, then $10,000, and ultimately $15,000 if the resistance breaks. At the time of the analysis, $ETH was trading near $2,500—still less than half its all-time high.
The Chart Behind the $15K Call
“$ETH is retesting a multi-year resistance zone for the 3rd time after holding its long-term accumulation support,” stated Patel as he shared a chart tracing a descending trendline from 2018 to 2021, marked by three lower highs before ETH broke out into that year’s rally.
The same horizontal resistance capped the price at the 2021 peak and again near 2025, with the current test drawn as the third touch of that line. Below it, a wide band the analyst called the “Best Accumulation Zone” has caught every major pullback since, with a rising trendline running through it that ETH is still sitting just above—around $2,460 on the chart’s own reading.
The target ladder is more granular than the $5K, $10K, $15K shorthand in Patel’s caption suggests. The chart itself marks $3,270 and $4,892 as the first two levels, with $5,500 also flagged, before the path opens toward $10,000 and then $15,000.
Current Market Context
At the time of writing, spot ETH had changed little in 24 hours but was down about 1% on the week and roughly 44% below where it traded a year ago. Over one month, however, the asset showed gains of 31%—although even that jump kept it 50% below its August 2025 all-time high.
Trading volume jumped close to 28% in the past 24 hours to near $16.3 billion, a sign of fresh activity around the level Patel is watching.
Experts Split Between Breakout and Pullback
Analyst NoName, posting on Thursday, offered a different perspective, noting that ETH had just finished a Wave 3 impulsive move and writing that “the next phase of the structure should be a Wave 4 correction.”
They pointed to $2,324 as the first support to watch, with a bounce toward $2,784 to $2,966 possible if buyers defend it, or a drop to the $2,112 to $2,222 zone if it fails. Only a daily close under $2,050 would scrap the setup entirely.
Several other market watchers have also been keeping an eye on the $2,500 to $2,550 area, with some expecting a move toward $3,000 after a strong weekly close above resistance and others anticipating a retreat toward $2,000 first.
