Ethereum near first-ever three straight red quarters

Ethereum is set to record three consecutive quarterly declines for the first time, according to Coinglass. The token fell 28.28% in Q4 2025, 29.26% in Q1 2026 and is down 18.4% so far in the current quarter, with roughly two weeks remaining.

The price slide has taken Ether toward multi-year lows and pushed market sentiment into deep fear. Reports of a U.S.-Iran peace agreement coincided with a roughly 2% rise in total crypto market capitalization over 24 hours; Ether gained about 2.6% in the same period and traded above $1,700.

Ethereum has not previously closed three quarters in the red. After two consecutive losing quarters in 2022, Ether rose about 24% in the following quarter. Similar, smaller recoveries followed paired quarterly declines in 2019 and 2020. Historically, Q3 has been the weakest quarter for Ether, with an average return of 7.44%.

Technical indicators show some measures moving toward levels seen at prior cycle lows. Weekly relative strength index readings have not yet spent multiple weeks below 30, a pattern that appeared during earlier bottoms. The ETH/BTC trading pair remains in a downtrend.

Analyst Ardi noted several metrics aligning with earlier bottoms, including a recent touch of a ‘blue lower acceptance cloud’ and specific RSI trends. He warned, ‘worst isn’t over yet,’ and added, ‘ETH has more downside incoming as long as its pair bleeds. But last cycle, ETH bottomed 6 months before BTC… Timing the bottom is improbable. But we’re in the second half of the bear market year.’

On-chain data show substantial holdings locked in staking. More than 39.5 million ETH is staked across roughly 887,000 validators, which reduces the amount of ETH available for trading.

Market participants are monitoring macroeconomic and geopolitical developments, technical confirmations such as an extended oversold RSI period, and relative performance versus Bitcoin. Any extended recovery would need to continue into the next quarter to avoid a third consecutive quarterly loss.

Ethereum moved to proof-of-stake in 2022, enabling staking and reducing circulating supply as holders lock ETH in validator nodes.