Key Points:
Ether prices rose 3% to $2,550 on May 18, causing a short ETH liquidation of $22 million.
The bull flag on the chart suggests a $3,700 target, with analysts predicting that Bitcoin will reach $5,000 in May.
Ether’s (ETH) price rose on May 18th, trading at $2,536, up over 2.5% in the last 24 hours. This recovery cites powerful technology and strengthens optimism among traders that ETH prices could reach $3,000 in May.
Ether wipes out $7.5 million in shorts in an hour
Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and Bitsamp show that ETH rose by more than 4.5% on May 18th from the $2,551 ETH from the previous day’s low of $2,440.
Today’s ether losses have a major liquidation across the crypto market. More than $158 million in leveraged crypto positions have been settled over the past 24 hours, with $95 million representing a long liquidation, according to Coinglass data.
The brief etheric liquidation reached $22.25 million, with $7.5 million being wiped out in the last hour alone.
This means that the ether has returned to $2,500, which caught the short trader off guard.
Additional Coinglass data shows several bands of interest from sellers above spot prices, with orders worth more than $384 million up to $3,000. This suggests that ongoing recovery could be capped at this level.
Will the ether recovery be returned?
Market analysts believe the recent decline in ether is a technical fix to retest key support levels before continuing the uptrend towards over $3,000.
Titan of Crypto said the value of the weekly stochastic RSI of 79 suggests that ETH “still has more gas in the tank.”
#ethereum may still have more gas in the tank ⛽️
The weekly stochastic RSI suggests that there is still space before reaching extremely over-acquired territory, perhaps even a few more weeks. #eth pic.twitter.com/atcm93napo
– May 17th, 2025, Titan from Crypto (@washigorira)
According to analyst Chimpan, the etheric drawbacks could be covered in $2,400.
Analysts share the charts and suggest that Altcoin could continue its retracement to retest $2,400 in support before starting another rally towards the $3,000-$3,300 range.
Fellow analyst Crypto Patel said ETH prices could drop $1,800 before they could begin a higher move, predicting a deeper retracement for Ether.
“This area is a high-strength zone for bullish re-entry, if prices indicate support,” the analyst wrote as part of the X as part of a May 17 post.
“If demand is held here, the next leg can go from $4,000 to $5,000.”
As reported by Cointelegraph, ETH could reach a new all-time high of around $5,000, spurring the latest improvements through AI adoption, Spot ETF influx and Pectra upgrades.
Related: Price forecast 5/16: BTC, ETH, XRP, BNB, SOL, DOGE, ADA, SUI, LINK, AVAX
Ether Price Bull Flag is still playing
From a technical standpoint, ETH prices are traded beyond the bull flag pattern over a four-hour time frame. This is a bullish setup that forms after prices rise sharply and then the prices are integrated within the downslop range.
The Bull Flag was confirmed on May 13th, when the price surpassed the top trendline at $2,550. Ether is currently retesting the flag’s limit, currently at $2,470, serving as immediate support.
With daily candlesticks near this level, assets can increase by 50% from current prices and resume the uptrend towards Bull Flag’s technical goals.
Conversely, the RSI has fallen from 60 to 42 over the last 24 hours, suggesting that profits could lead to continuous revisions.
Close your candlestick daily at a support level of $2,470 will lower the price to $2,400, and the flag’s lower limit at $2,300.
This article does not include investment advice or recommendations. All investment and trading movements include risk and readers must do their own research when making decisions.
