ETH rises 0.72% in 15 minutes: protocol upgrade combined with institutional and ETF capital inflows driving short-term upward movement

2026-04-02 00:30 to 00:45 (UTC), the ETH price achieved a +0.72% return within 15 minutes. The price range was 2137.74 to 2157.47 USDT, with a swing of 0.92%. Market attention during this period rose noticeably, short-term volatility increased, and capital activity improved significantly.

The main drivers behind this unusual move are the recent protocol upgrades and Layer2 expansion, which lowered trading costs and improved network processing capacity. The seven-day moving average on-chain transaction volume is close to 2.5 million, with active addresses reaching 17.4 million, supporting the ongoing vibrancy of the ETH ecosystem. Meanwhile, since March 2026, the average on-chain Gas fee on the ETH network has fallen to $0.15, greatly stimulating the migration and activity of on-chain applications such as DeFi and NFTs, forming a solid foundation for price momentum.

In addition, institutional capital inflows and net subscriptions for ETFs further amplified the market’s resonance effect. In early 2026, U.S. crypto ETF assets saw net inflows of $670M, and ETH-related funds recorded net inflows of $174M. Combined with the fact that open interest in a major exchange’s futures contracts broke above $60B, this indicates that institutions and long-side traders are actively positioning. On-chain large-scale accumulation behavior, along with the reduction of ETH circulating supply due to transaction-fee burning under the EIP-1559 mechanism, has tightened supply and demand, jointly amplifying short-term volatility.

At the current stage, it is important to watch for potential congestion and changes in Gas fees that high-frequency network interactions may trigger, and to be alert to the risk of market reversal driven by changes in the futures open interest structure. At the same time, the liquidity sensitivity of large-holding institutions and the direction of ETF fund flows are key indicators to monitor. It is recommended to pay attention to the performance around key support levels, recent updates on on-chain large capital transfers, and the latest developments in institutional subscriptions/redemptions, to mitigate volatility risk from abrupt short-term trend reversals, and to continuously monitor related policy developments and mainnet upgrade progress.