Ethereum hits $4.9K all-time high – Is ETH the new crypto king?

Ethereum just shattered its 2021 record, tagging a fresh all-time high near $4,945 amid a wave of institutional optimism and macro ￰1￱ this is the start of a new phase, has ETH finally claimed the crypto crown? Record-breaking rally After years of consolidation and builder-driven upgrades, Ethereum (ETH) burst through its prior peak, printing an intraday high around $4,945 over the ￰2￱ the Ethereum all-time high , market cap hovered just under $600B, cementing its status as the second-largest crypto asset and reigniting the “flippening” debate in market ￰3￱ trackers and major outlets confirmed the move, with data feeds noting the all-time high in the $4.94K-$4.95K ￰4￱ surge didn’t happen in a ￰5￱ arrived as macro risk appetite thawed and crypto-native flows rotated decisively into Ether, intensifying a trend that had been brewing since early summer. $ETH is doing exactly the same thing which led to a massive rally in the 2017 and 2021 ￰6￱ trap the bulls, and then a capitulation to trap the ￰7￱ that, a new ATH and then an up-only mode for 3-4 ￰8￱ have now entered the up-only mode ￰9￱ — Ether Wizz (@EtherWizz_) August 23, 2025 What’s fueling the Ethereum price rally Institutional ￰10￱ spot Ether ETFs approved last year and now past their “launch wobble” phase have seen Ethereum ETF ￰11￱ early August, Bloomberg tallied more than $6.7B year-to-date into the ￰12￱ ETH ETFs; mid-month data showed over $1.7B of net inflows in August even as some Bitcoin funds recorded ￰13￱ reallocation is pivotal: it signals real, sticky demand from institutions building strategic ETH ￰14￱ ETFs, corporate treasuries buying ETH have also leaned into Ether, adding a structural buyer base that didn’t exist during the last cycle’s ￰15￱ ￰16￱ Chair Jerome Powell’s Jackson Hole remarks nudged markets toward a September rate-cut probability , dialing down real yields and lifting risk assets, including crypto.

Risk-on cues across equities and Asian markets underscored the shift in tone, and Ether’s breakout rode that macro ￰17￱ pressure mounts: Squeeze city On the microstructure side, the rally chewed through stacked liquidation zones above $4.7K. Across the broader market, swift spikes around the breakout produced hundreds of millions of dollars in forced liquidations , with ETH-tied liquidations near $388M in 24 hours and roughly $700M+ marketwide during the most volatile ￰18￱ bursts over $300M highlighted just how lopsided positioning had ￰19￱ kind of “air pocket” is classic fuel for continuation, when shorts get run over, the bid often chases ￰20￱ here, traders are watching whether the price can sustain closes above the breakout shelf and build a higher ￰21￱ momentum holds, chartists will eye round-number psychology at $5,000 and extensions into discovery territory, while a failed re-test could send ETH to back-fill liquidity pockets in the $4,400-$4,600 range before any further advance. 🚨BREAKING: ETH just smashed a new ATH at $4,900! ￰22￱ — Coin Bureau (@coinbureau) August 24, 2025 ETH vs Bitcoin – Is the reversal coming? “ ETH vs Bitcoin ” is more than a tribal debate-it’s a capital-allocation question for ￰23￱ datasets now show ETH outpacing BTC in ￰24￱ Wall Street Journal’s Jackson Hole coverage pegged ETH’s YTD gains near ~45% versus BTC’s ~25% , and several performance dashboards echo a similar ￰25￱ ETH/BTC ratio has pushed to 2025 highs on the back of ETF inflows and treasury ￰26￱ is just one bullish candle away from its 8-yr downtrend breakout.

You're not bullish ￰27￱ — Ted (@TedPillows) August 22, 2025 Why it matters: Bitcoin’s store-of-value narrative remains intact, but Ethereum’s programmability, spanning stablecoins, tokenized funds, staking yields, and on-chain capital markets, offers cash-flow-adjacent use cases and a “platform premium” that big money can ￰28￱ quoted across mainstream outlets argue that this cycle’s leadership could broaden beyond BTC precisely because ETH is investable through regulated wrappers (spot ETFs) while also being the settlement layer for the fastest-growing on-chain financial ￰29￱ risks to the “ETH new crypto king” thesis Buy-the-rumor, ￰30￱ round numbers and all-time highs attract profit-taking.

A failure to hold above breakout levels could force a deeper mean reversion as funding and leverage ￰31￱ maps remain a double-edged sword: just as shorts can get squeezed higher, a sharp downdraft can cascade through crowded ￰32￱ ￰33￱ Hole optimism is still contingent on incoming data. A hot inflation print or hawkish surprise could cool risk appetite quickly, pressuring ETH and ETF ￰34￱ flow ￰35￱ flows are strong, they can ￰36￱ outflow streak, or regulatory curveball, would test how “organic” spot demand truly is away from the ETF ￰37￱ weekly data already show rotation across ￰38￱ Ethereum’s all-time high isn’t just a statistical notch; it’s a signal that capital is re-rating ETH’s role in the digital-asset ￰39￱ ETF inflows , treasury accumulation , and a macro backdrop tilting dovish, the Ethereum price rally has both narrative and numbers behind ￰40￱ in a derivatives market that’s repeatedly mispositioned at key inflection points, and you have the ingredients for continued volatility, and potentially continued leadership in the ETH vs Bitcoin battle.

Ethereum’s record run isn’t just statistical, it’s ￰41￱ smart money backs its programmability, the question isn’t whether ETH can dominate, but how quickly it might outshine Bitcoin from ￰42￱ for liftoff? Think Ethereum has overtaken Bitcoin in 2025? Drop your target price below and tell us who’s the real king: ETH or BTC? Not investment ￰43￱ assets are volatile and can lose value rapidly.

ETH’s Price Climb ￰44￱ Peaks A quick visual of Ethereum’s major all‑time‑highs. Hover for exact ￰45￱ a $5,000 reference ￰46￱ (Peak) Price (USD) Note Jan 2018 $1,431 Cycle peak in 2018 Nov 2021 $4,878 Previous ATH Aug 2025 $4,945.60 New ATH (function() // Avoid double-loading if this block appears multiple times const ensureChart = () => const ctx = document. getElementById(‘ethPeaksChart’); if (! ctx || !

window. Chart) return; // Data — update these values if you want to refresh peaks const labels = ‘Jan 2018′,’Nov 2021′,’Aug 2025’; const prices = 1431, 4878, 4945.60; // Plugin to draw a horizontal guide line (e. g., $5,000) const guideLine = id: ‘guideLine’, afterDraw(chart, args, opts) const ctx, chartArea: top, bottom, left, right , scales: y = chart; if (typeof ￰47￱ !== ‘number’) return; const yPos = y. getPixelForValue(opts.

value); ctx. save(); ctx. beginPath(); ctx. moveTo(left, yPos); ctx.

lineTo(right, yPos); ￰48￱ = 1.25; ctx. setLineDash(6,4); ￰49￱ = ‘#9AA6B2’; ctx. stroke(); ￰50￱ = ‘#6B7280′; ￰51￱ = ’12px -apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,Segoe UI,Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif’; ctx. fillText(‘$’ + opts.

value. toLocaleString(), left + 6, yPos – 6); ctx. restore(); ; new Chart(ctx, type: ‘bar’, data: labels: labels, datasets: label: ‘ETH All‑Time‑Highs (USD)’, data: prices, borderWidth: 1, // Soft gradient fill backgroundColor: function(context) const ctx, chartArea = context. chart; if (!

chartArea) return ‘rgba(53, 162, 235, 0.6)’; const gradient = ctx. createLinearGradient(0, chartArea. bottom, 0, chartArea. top); gradient.

addColorStop(0, ‘rgba(59,130,246,0.25)’); gradient. addColorStop(1, ‘rgba(59,130,246,0.65)’); return gradient; , hoverBackgroundColor: ‘rgba(59,130,246,0.8)’, borderColor: ‘rgba(59,130,246,0.9)’, borderRadius: 8, maxBarThickness: 72 , options: maintainAspectRatio: false, scales: x: grid: display:false , ticks: font: size: 13 , y: beginAtZero: true, ticks: callback: (val) => ‘$’ + Number(val). toLocaleString() , grid: color: ‘rgba(0,0,0,0.06)’ , plugins: legend: display: false , tooltip: callbacks: label: (ctx) => ‘ $’ + ctx. parsed.

y. toLocaleString() , guideLine: value: 5000 , animation: duration: 700, easing: ‘easeOutQuart’ , plugins: guideLine ); ; // Load ￰52￱ from CDN if needed const loadChartJs = () => new Promise((resolve) => if (window. Chart) return resolve(); const s = document. createElement(‘script’); ￰53￱ = ‘￰0￱ ￰54￱ = resolve; document.

head. appendChild(s); ); if (document. readyState === ‘complete’) loadChartJs(). then(ensureChart); else window.

addEventListener(‘load’, () => loadChartJs(). then(ensureChart)); )(); Get seen where it ￰55￱ in Cryptopolitan Research and reach crypto’s sharpest investors and builders.