Ethereum Trades Flat Over 9 Years, 14% Below Its 2017 High Once Inflation Is Counted

A Brutal Verdict

The trader argued that ether is presently going for the aforesaid terms it commanded 9 years ago, and that erstwhile inflation is factored in, it sits astir 14% beneath its 2017 peak. The numbers down the ailment are stark arsenic Ether is trading conscionable beneath $1,700, leaving it down astir 65% from the all-time precocious of astir $4,946 (reached successful August 2025).

Bitcoin.com News precocious reported that ether has mislaid astir 44% of its worth done 2026 alone, a acold steeper drawdown than bitcoin implicit the aforesaid stretch.

Image source: X

Pentoshi’s lost-decade posturing tracks ether’s agelong terms past with the token archetypal approaching the $1,400 level successful aboriginal 2018 during the erstwhile cycle’s blow-off top. More than 8 years later, it trades lone modestly supra that people successful nominal presumption and, by the trader’s math, beneath it (once the dollar’s reduced purchasing powerfulness is accounted for).

That statement lands amid an atrocious agelong for the network’s stewards, with Bitcoin.com News highlighting precocious past period that ether has struggled to clasp the $2,000 enactment adjacent arsenic bitcoin has held comparative ground. Not lone that, adjacent the Ethereum Foundation has been navigating unit departures and questions implicit however to money halfway improvement moving ahead.

Simply put, critics are progressively pointing toward ETH’s lacklustre terms enactment arsenic grounds that years of upgrades person not translated into durable worth for holders.

The Bull Case Hasn’t Vanished

Not everyone has partaken successful the gloom arsenic Standard Chartered has maintained a coagulated semipermanent terms people of $40,000 for ether contempt the steep decline, betting that exchange-traded money (ETF) flows, staking yields and layer-2 enactment volition yet reassert themselves. The bank’s analysts reason the existent weakness reflects a rotation into competing chains alternatively than a imperishable nonaccomplishment of relevance.

Supporters besides constituent to the network’s fundamentals, citing billions of dollars successful decentralized finance ( DeFi) activity, rising stablecoin settlements, and tokenization products built connected Ethereum, arsenic cardinal markers that terms charts person failed to capture.

Moreover, from its 2025 record, ether’s descent looks similar a crash, but measured from its 2015 motorboat adjacent 31 cents, it remains 1 of the best-performing assets of the era. In this light, Pentoshi’s framing seems to deliberately anchor ETH to its 2017–2018 peak, the examination slightest flattering to semipermanent holders and the 1 astir apt to sting newer entrants who bought adjacent the top.

Looking ahead, holders volition apt proceed to ticker retired for catalysts, beryllium it renewed ETF demand, palmy upgrades, oregon a broader marketplace turn, each things that could yet interruption the nine-year stalemate the trader has spoken astir connected X.