Ether (ETH) is bullish on Tuesday in line with the wider cryptocurrency market, with its price rising to around $2,000, up 3% over the last 24 hours, amid escalating geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.
While the US-Israel-Iran conflict has sparked global market jitters, Ether’s bullish momentum appears to be returning, driven by strong investor confidence, surging network activity, resumption of ETF inflows, and a strong technical setup projecting an over 30% rally to areas above $2,500.
Crypto Traders Shrug Off War and Inflation Fear
Despite heightened geopolitical risks following combined US and Israel military actions against Iran, crypto traders have shown remarkable resilience. While traders scaled back expectations for interest rate cuts in the United States, investors continued to pour capital into Ethereum-based investment products, signaling stronger confidence in Ether’s upside potential.
Traders’ sentiment remained steady despite the worsening socio-economic outlook, as market emotions flipped positive. The Ethereum Coinbase Premium Index, while dipping to a 12-month low of -0.22 early last month, surged to 0.006, its highest level since mid-December 2025. 
Ethereum Coinbase Premium Index. Source: CryptoQuant
This investor confidence is further bolstered by continued capital inflow into US-based spot Ethereum ETFs. According to data from Farside Investors, these investment products recorded $38.7 million on Monday, reflecting sustained institutional and retail interest even as traditional markets wavered.
Flow by asset. Source: Farside Investors
This had helped ease traders’ concerns about a potential economic recession and the adverse effects of the conflict involving Iran, with market participants expecting tensions in the Middle East to ease.
High Open Interest and Increasing TVL
An increase in open, long positions in the futures market preceded Ether’s rally to $2,000 today and increased its upside potential. The total open interest on ETH futures reached 13.07 million ETH on March 3, the highest since Jan. 31 and up 6% over the last 24 hours.
Ether’s OI ranks second in the cryptocurrency market and is over 400% higher than the demand for ETH derivatives.
Ethereum futures aggregate open interest, ETH. Source: CoinGlass
The growing OI indicates strong institutional participation and increasing demand for ETH in the derivatives market, and with increasing total value locked (TVL), it increases its upward price trajectory.
Ethereum’s TVL has grown 16% from 56.52 million ETH on Jan. 1 to 65.62 million at the time of writing. This growth reflects rising confidence in Ethereum's DeFi ecosystem, with platforms like Lido, EigenCloud and Paxos gold seeing deposit increases up t0 25% over the same period.
Ethereum TVL and daily transactions. Source: Defilama
Ethereum’s daily transaction rose to an all-time of 2.9 million on Feb. 6 and its decentralized exchange (DEX) volume leads the industry at $2.19 billion daily, commanding a 27.7% market share ahead of Solana and BNB Chain.
This high network activity, coupled with growing adoption in DeFi, NFTs, and projects like Ethereum staking features, underscores Ether’s utility and supports its short-term price potential toward $2,800.
Ether Price Symmetrical Triangle Hints at $2,800
The ETH/USD pair has formed a symmetrical triangle chart pattern on the daily chart, as shown below.
A symmetrical triangle is a neutral setup that forms after the price consolidates inside two converging trend lines, with the possibility of a breakout on either side.
Triangles typically resolve upward after the price breaks above the upper trendline and rises by as much as the previous pattern’s height. This puts the upper target for the ETH price at $2,775 - a 42% increase from the current price.
ETH/USD daily chart. Source: TradingView
The daily RSI increased to 42 on Tuesday from oversold conditions of 18 reached on Feb. 6, indicating increasing bullish momentum.
Ether’s bullish case hinges on the price overcoming the resistance between the 20-day exponential moving average at $2,050 and the $2,100 psychological level. The next level barrier to overcome would be the 50-day EMA at $2,300.
Conversely, a daily candlestick close below the pattern’s upper boundary at $1,850 would see the price drop back to the multi-year low of $1,740, reached on Feb. 6.
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