Ether (ETH) price surges 20% following the launch of the Pectra upgrade

Ether price surged 20% in the past 24 hours following the launch of the Pectra upgrade, with some crypto traders suggesting the growing number of ETH long positions could mark a “turning point” for the asset that has faced uncertain sentiment throughout most of 2025.

At the time of publication, Ether (ETH) is trading at $2,230, up 19.6% over the past 24 hours, according to CoinMarketCap data. Pseudonymous crypto trader Daan Crypto Trades said it was a “pretty insane candle.” Over the same 24 hours, Ether Open Interest (OI) spiked 21%.

Ether price pump caught traders offside

The surge followed the long-awaited Pectra Upgrade, which went live on May 7, introducing new wallet features, increased staking limits and scalability improvements to Ethereum.

Popular crypto trader Alex Kruger said on May 8 that Ether’s price spike was primarily due to “new longs.”

If Ether were to fall back to $2,000, approximately $2.06 billion in long positions would be at risk of liquidation, according to CoinGlass data. The price surge caught many traders offside, with approximately $328 million in Ether short positions liquidated over the same period.

Crypto trader Bob Loukas said, “ETH holders thinking this might finally be the turning point.”

2025 has not been a strong year for Ether’s price, which fell 56% from its Jan. 1 price to $1,472 by April 9 — its lowest point this year — as sentiment weakened throughout the year.

Ether’s recent rally coincides with Bitcoin (BTC) gaining 3.59% over the same period and nearly 6% over the past seven days, reclaiming the $100,000 mark on May 8 for the first time in over three months.

In comments to Cointelegraph, onchain options protocol Derive founder Nick Forster said Ether’s recent price surge was due to a combination of factors, beyond just the Pectra hard fork.

Forster pointed out the US trade deal with the UK, where US President Donald Trump “slashed tariffs on British cars and steel.” He also pointed to the crypto exchange Coinbase, which announced the acquisition of Deribit for $2.9 billion.

Since 2013, Ether has averaged a 62.2% return in the second quarter. Based on its price on April 1, Ether could reach around $2,950 by the end of June if history repeats.

However, the momentum has not crossed over with spot Ether ETFs yet. For the third day running, spot Ether ETFs posted outflows, totaling $16.1 million, according to Farside data.

Meanwhile, the overall crypto market also saw an uptick in prices and sentiment following Bitcoin’s surge. Over the 24 hours, the entire crypto market surged 4.95%, and the Crypto Fear & Greed Index has moved further into “Greed” territory, bumping up another 8 points to a score of 73.