Key Takeaways:
Ethereum gained 11% over the last four weeks to trade at $2,305.77 as of April 24, its longest stretch of weekly gains in nearly a year, prompting a renewal of bullish bets in derivatives markets.
"There's a lot of risk out there and yet asset prices are at all-time highs," Sarah Breeden, Deputy Governor of the Bank of England, told the BBC, expecting "an adjustment at some point."
The move marks a 7.18% gain for Ethereum in the past month, according to market data from April 24. The rally contrasts with a 22.29% drop for the token in the first quarter of 2026. It also comes amid a broader market upswing that saw the S&P 500 and Nasdaq hit record highs in April, driven by de-escalating geopolitical tensions and renewed tech momentum.
With Ethereum's transition to a Proof-of-Stake network, where staking yields on platforms like Lido average between 3% and 4% annually, the key question is whether the rally can attract sustained investment. This comes even as central bankers warn of a potential market adjustment and a recent $292 million exploit on an Ethereum-based protocol highlights the persistent risks within the decentralized finance ecosystem.
The recent gains in crypto have moved in lockstep with traditional equity markets. According to a February 2026 report from CME Group, the correlation between Bitcoin and the Nasdaq 100 ran as high as 0.6 earlier this year, challenging the narrative of crypto as an uncorrelated hedge. While the S&P 500 and Nasdaq posted fresh records in April, some central bankers are sounding alarms. Breeden's warning from the Bank of England points to risks lurking beneath the surface of all-time high asset prices, a sentiment that could have significant implications for crypto if a market-wide correction occurs.
The bullish sentiment around Ethereum is not without its own specific headwinds. On April 18, 2026, liquid restaking protocol Kelp DAO suffered a major security breach, losing around $292 million worth of its rsETH token. The attacker then used the unbacked collateral on Aave, a cornerstone DeFi lending protocol on Ethereum, to borrow between $190 million and $236 million of assets, creating a massive bad debt crisis for the protocol. The event triggered panic and a liquidity drain of over $16.2 billion from Aave. Despite this, on-chain data shows derivatives traders are undeterred, with open interest for Aave surging 52% from $211 million to $321 million in the two weeks following the crisis, per Coinglass data.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
