As ETH Breaks Above $4,900, Analyst Sums Up Crypto Market: ‘BTC Is Exhausted, ETH Isn’t’

Ether (ETH) pushed into uncharted territory Sunday, clearing $4,900 on Coinbase at 5:40 ￰0￱ and surpassing its prior record of $4,867 set on Nov. 8, ￰1￱ five-year ETH-USD price chart from TradingView shows a clean, multi-year breakout: ETH has finally vaulted the 2021 high after a long consolidation, leaving no historical overhead levels to lean ￰2￱ is what traders call price discovery — the market is printing new highs with only psychology and order flow to guide it rather than prior chart ￰3￱ 5-day view fills in the tape ￰4￱ a fast run from the mid-$4,700s, ETH pushed through $4,900 and reached an intraday high around $4,946.90. At the time of the chart snapshot — 6:48 ￰5￱ — the last price was about $4,941.57.

That sequence signals buyers absorbed supply near the old ceiling and then forced a fresh high, a classic breakout ￰6￱ Miles Deutsher summed up the leadership shift as “BTC is exhausted, ETH isn’t.” In plain English, he is flagging relative momentum: bitcoin’s rallies have stalled near recent highs while ether just broke into price ￰7￱ a market says one asset is “exhausted,” it usually means upside attempts are fading, follow-through is weak, and sellers keep meeting pushes higher; “isn’t” means the opposite — stronger follow-through, fresh highs, and active ￰8￱ often rotate toward the asset showing higher relative strength when the other leader ￰9￱ Rover focused on supply on exchanges.

“Exchange reserves” refers to coins held in wallets controlled by centralized trading ￰10￱ those balances trend down, fewer coins are immediately available to ￰11￱ demand rises as liquid supply thins, price can accelerate because buyers must bid higher to coax coins off-exchange back into ￰12￱ is the mechanic behind his “supply shock” phrasing — not a guarantee of straight-up prices, but a setup where scarcity can magnify moves once momentum starts. Michaël van de Poppe offered a risk ￰13￱ highlighted the unusually large weekly candle and cautioned that weekend breakouts often retrace when liquidity normalizes early in the ￰14￱ idea is simple: weekend order books can be thinner, so moves extend more easily; when fuller participation returns on Monday, prices sometimes retest the breakout area to confirm it as support before trending ￰15￱ practice, that means a pullback toward the breakout zone would not, by itself, negate the larger bullish break you see on the 5-year chart.