Ethereum’s ether (ETH) is stealing the spotlight in Monday’s crypto rally, climbing to a six-week high as investor demand show signs of return to the second-largest digital asset after months of bruising declines.

Ethereum’s native token, ETH, rose to above $2,300, gaining more than 10% over the past 24 hours. That easily outpaced bitcoin’s 3% advance and the CoinDesk 20 Index’s roughly 5% gain, signaling a shift in momentum toward assets beyond bitcoin.

The move comes after a torrid stretch for the broader crypto market, including ether. With the rebound, ETH is still down more than 50% from its August record high and, at one point, had fallen roughly 65% from its peak during the market’s winter slide.

Prices have stabilized in February and March, and institutional flows are beginning to turn supportive.

U.S. spot ether ETFs pulled in more than $160 million in fresh funds last week, marking their strongest weekly inflows since mid-January, according to data from SoSoValue. Global asset manager BlackRock also rolled out a yield-paying Ethereum staking ETF (ETHB), which has already drawn more than $45 million in inflows in its first two trading days, on top of a $104 million seed investment, data from Farside Investors shows.

Meanwhile, BitMine (BMNR), the largest corporate holder focused on Ethereum treasury strategies, has purchased nearly 122,000 ETH — worth roughly more than $280 million at current prices — in the past two weeks, adding another source of demand.

BMNR shares are higher by 13.6% on Monday. Another major ETH treasury company, Sharplink Gaming (SBET) is seeing a 9.1% advance.

Rotation from bitcoin

Analysts say the price action could reflect investors rotating into ether after bitcoin dominated inflows earlier this year.

“ETH’s relative strength suggests potential rotation dynamics, possibly tied to network developments and valuation appeal beyond bitcoin,” said Joel Kruger, market strategist at LMAX Group.

He added that ether has broken above an important range against bitcoin where it traded since the end of January. “potentially marking a significant bottom for ETHBTC.”

Adam Saville Brown, head of commercial at Tesseract Group, sees the move as a sign that risk appetite is broadening across the crypto market.

“Ethereum’s outperformance is worth watching,” said Adam Saville Brown, head of commercial at Tesseract Group. “ETH has broken back above $2,200 after weeks of underperformance. That kind of rotation into the second-largest asset suggests risk appetite is broadening, which tends to be a healthy sign.”

Still, he cautioned that the rally could remain sensitive to macro signals.

“If Powell strikes a cautious tone on inflation, altcoin gains will give back faster than bitcoin,” Saville Brown said. “The honest assessment is that the floor looks solid. The ceiling requires more than a rate hold to break through.”

Read more: Ethereum Foundation’s new mandate sparks debate about its role, priorities

Pi now trades like a high‑beta narrative coin: stuck in a 0.18–0.25 band while March unlocks, Open Mainnet progress and listing rumors fight to set the next big move.

Pi Network (PI) is trading like a high‑beta, narrative coin pinned between speculative unlock flows and a long‑awaited mainnet story, with March shaping up as an inflection point for price direction.

Market Snapshot: Range, Liquidity, Structure

Across major offshore venues, PI is changing hands around the low‑$0.20s, with recent spot quotes clustered in the 0.21–0.23 dollar band after a short-term grind higher over the past week. MEXC data puts Pi’s market cap near 1.8–1.9 billion dollars, on roughly 9.6 billion tokens in circulation and light but steady 24‑hour volumes close to 1 million dollars, signalling modest but not dead order books for a top‑50 asset. On a higher timeframe, PI is still down more than 90% versus its 2025 peak near 3 dollars, leaving a heavy overhang of trapped supply and emotionally scarred holders into every rally.

Technically, short-term resistance clusters just above 0.23–0.24 dollars, with analysts watching 0.24–0.25 as the level that would confirm a clean break from the recent range. Support sits in the 0.18–0.20 zone, an area already flagged as structurally important given upcoming token unlocks that could stress bids if sentiment wobbles.

Catalysts: Mainnet, Unlocks, Listings

The key structural shift is the project’s transition into an Open Mainnet, enabling real-world transactions, external integrations, and a move away from “mobile mining app” purgatory. That unlocks a credible path to utility – payments, dapps, marketplace integrations – but it does not remove the near-term mechanical risk from supply hitting the market as KYC migrations and token unlocks accelerate.

Near term, traders are also leaning into the “exchange listing plus Pi Day roadmap” combo trade: speculation around new CEX listings, including tier‑one venues, has already driven spikes when rumors surface. At the same time, token unlock trackers highlight roughly tens of millions of PI scheduled to hit circulation in March, putting the 0.18–0.20 floor at risk if early miners rush to cash out into thin books.

3–6 Month Price Scenarios

Baseline: If Open Mainnet stabilizes, daily active users migrate into actual spenders, and unlock supply is absorbed without major liquidations, PI could grind higher into a 0.30–0.50 range over the coming quarters, implying a 30–130% upside from current levels and a market cap in the 3–5 billion dollar band. This tracks with several quantitative and qualitative models that cluster 2026 fair value around the mid‑double‑cent range, assuming no blow‑off mania.

Bear case: Persistent sell pressure from unlocks, tepid dapp traction, and no top‑tier listings could drag PI back toward 0.14 or lower, effectively revisiting winter lows and erasing the recent bounce. Bull case: A “perfect storm” of strong mainnet adoption, surprise listings, and retail FOMO could push price through 0.50 toward the 0.80–1.00 zone flagged by more optimistic 2026 models, though that would require a sustained re‑rating of Pi as a payments‑style network rather than a fading airdrop meme.

For now, PI trades like an options bet on execution: upside capped by dilution and history, downside controlled by how quickly the network can turn its massive user base into real, on‑chain economic activity.