Is It Too Late to Buy Ethereum at $2,724 With ETH Still 45% Below Its High?
Ethereum just posted a 7% monthly gain, but its deeper story involves shrinking demand, a Layer 2 network shutting down with nearly $2 billion gone, and a price still far from its peak. Here is what buyers need to weigh…
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Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) has risen 7% over the past month, reaching $2,724 as of October 5, 2026, up 2.7% this week. This uptick has led many potential buyers to wonder: is it too late to invest in Ethereum? Despite this recent rally, ETH is still trading about 45% lower than its all-time high of $4,946
When you look at the bigger picture, the situation doesn’t look as rosy. Over the past year, Ethereum has dropped about 40%, meaning this month’s gains have recovered only a small portion of that decline. So, the critical question remains: is this resurgence the beginning of a recovery or merely a temporary pause in a downward trend?
Ethereum Has Lagged Bitcoin Over the Past Year
In the past year, Ethereum has significantly lagged behind Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC). Bitcoin has dropped 30%, currently trading about 32% below its peak of $126,080. In contrast, Ethereum’s decline has been steeper, falling 40% over the same period and now sitting 45% below its record high.
This discrepancy indicates that investing in ETH carries more risk but offers less reward. Currently, U.S. spot Bitcoin funds hold around $109 billion, while Ethereum funds hold only about $18 billion, highlighting a lack of consistent support for ETH.
Blast’s Shutdown Shows How Layer 2 Networks Drain Demand for ETH
Layer 2 networks offer lower-cost transaction alternatives. They process transactions faster and cheaper, then record the results on Ethereum’s main chain. While these networks improve Ethereum’s usability, they also shift transaction fees from the main chain to Layer 2, affecting ETH’s overall demand.
Ethereum has around 122 million coins in circulation without a hard cap, and part of each fee paid on the main chain is burned. When fewer transactions occur on the main chain, burning slows, increasing the supply of available coins. If demand doesn’t catch up, it puts downward pressure on ETH’s price.
A recent incident with Blast, a Layer 2 network, illustrates this issue. The network held around $2.2 billion in July 2024 but lost nearly 97% of that and is now shutting down, urging users to withdraw their funds by October 26. Despite this, Layer 2 tokens have often outperformed Ethereum, indicating where investors are currently interested.
Ethereum Developers Keep Building, From zkAPI to Glamsterdam
Despite the price challenges, developers continue to innovate within the Ethereum ecosystem. On October 1, the Ethereum Foundation launched zkAPI, a framework that allows users to pay for AI tools anonymously, building on a proposal by Vitalik Buterin and Davide Crapis from February 2026.
Additionally, the next upgrade is coming. Developers are set to test Glamsterdam on the Sepolia testnet on October 6. This upgrade aims to create a faster main chain that could potentially reclaim some of the activity lost to Layer 2 networks.
However, past upgrades haven’t always led to sustained price increases. Ethereum implemented several upgrades throughout 2026, but the price kept declining, leaving those who bought near the $4,950 peak significantly underwater.
Is It Too Late to Buy Ethereum at $2,724?
It’s not too late to consider buying Ethereum. A 7% monthly increase has hardly made a dent in a 45% drop from the high, meaning at $2,724, investors are paying much less than those who bought at the $4,946 peak. However, keep in mind that Ethereum has lagged behind Bitcoin, its supply can grow with lower main-chain activity, and recent developments like zkAPI and Glamsterdam haven’t yet positively impacted the price.
Ethereum might be a suitable choice for buyers willing to hold through another tough year like the last, when it lost 40% of its value. If Ethereum can break above $3,000, about 10% higher than its October 5 price, it could signal a more robust recovery.
However, if its price dips below $2,650 and loses the week’s recent gains, the current uptick might just be a temporary rally rather than the start of a true turnaround.
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Sam Daodu is a crypto analyst who's spent nearly a decade making blockchain understandable—no easy task when most whitepapers read like fever dreams. He writes for 24/7 Wall St., covering Bitcoin, altcoins, and crypto market analysis for investors. Before crypto, he was a tech writer (back when explaining "the cloud" was peak innovation). Since 2018, he's written for CoinTelegraph, Yahoo Finance, The Block, Cryptonews, Zypto, Rain, and more—basically anywhere people want crypto news without the headache. Sam runs MacLabs Marketing, a content agency for crypto brands tired of sounding like AI wrote their website. He also publishes free crypto education on his site for Web3 enthusiasts who think "gas fees" is a typo. When he's not writing or staring at charts, Sam's either: - Watching anime (currently convinced One Piece has better tokenomics than most altcoins) - At the gym sculpting himself into a Greek god - Listening to the music your mum warned you only bad boys listen to Connect: LinkedIn | Email | MacLabs Marketing
