Key Insights
- Ethereum sentiment on social media has returned to its pre-2025 rally levels.
- Ether is trading nearly 36% below its all-time high following a market-wide liquidation in October.
- Validator participation was renewed, with increasing staking queues as exits cleared.
Ethereum Sentiment Slides to Pre-Rally Levels as Staking Activity Builds
The sentiment of Ethereum on social media has returned to the same levels as before the 2025 price boom of the asset, according to an analysis provided by a market intelligence aggregate in the cryptocurrency industry.
The data point has attracted some attention because Ethereum is trading significantly lower than it has been at its recent highs, and the on-chain indicators are signaling new participation by validators.
In a video published on Saturday, Santiment analyst Brian Quinlivan stated that social media discussions surrounding Ethereum have weakened to levels comparable to those seen before last year’s rally.
He noted that similar declines in engagement and optimism were present before Ether rebounded sharply from earlier lows and later revisited its prior all-time high region.
Quinlivan stated that Ethereum’s price previously advanced at a time when participants were increasingly disengaged from the asset, according to sentiment metrics tracked by the analytics firm.
Ethereum Sentiment Trends Reflect Earlier Market Phases
Quinlivan said the current Ethereum sentiment profile mirrors earlier periods when interest had fallen, and skepticism dominated online commentary.
According to his remarks, Ethereum’s price “took off” in 2025 as public discourse turned increasingly negative, a phase that preceded a multi-month recovery. That rebound followed a drop to a yearly low of nearly $1,470 in April, before a sustained climb toward record levels later in the year.
CoinGecko reports that Ether has reached a new all-time high of approximately $4,900 on August 23, with its previous highest point being $4,900 in 2021. This shift followed a one-year low of about $1,470 in April of the same year.
This rally followed a few months of nervousness and a low level of interest in Ethereum on online boards and social media.
Quinlivan said those conditions were visible in declining engagement across social platforms at the time, which his firm tracks as part of its behavioral indicators.
Price Pullback and Wider Market Conditions.
Since reaching that peak, Ether has retraced a significant portion of its gains. As of press time, the asset was trading around $3,089, representing a decline of about 36% from its high, according to CoinMarketCap.
The fall occurred after a wider liquidation of the crypto markets on October 10, during which around $19 billion in positions were liquidated.
The event contributed to a wider downturn across digital asset markets, weighing on prices without a corresponding surge in negative Ethereum-specific developments.
Regardless of the price pullback, Quinlivan stated that the existing Ethereum mood does not reflect the degree of skepticism observed previously in 2025.
According to him, Ethereum is still widely regarded as the second-largest cryptocurrency, in terms of market capitalization, after Bitcoin.
In November 2025, the same view was expressed during an interview with Anthony Bassili, the president of Coinbase Asset Management.
According to Bassili, the first portfolio asset is Bitcoin, followed by Ethereum, which aligns with the priority of investment methods.
Staking Activity and Network Partaking.
Besides the advances in Ethereum sentiment, on-chain data indicate an increase in participation in the Ethereum staking system.
The Ethereum Beacon Chain staking queue is currently at its largest backlog since over a year ago, suggesting a resurgence of interest in validator participation, despite minimal price growth.
https://twitter.com/WuBlockchain/status/2009822562713514067
According to data provided by Validator Queue, around 1.759 million ETH, estimated to be worth approximately $5.5 billion, is awaiting activation.
Prospective validators are currently facing an estimated waiting period of 30 days and 13 hours before deposits are processed.
At the same time, the exit queue has been cleared, indicating that all pending withdrawal requests have been processed.
During the previous period, the number of entry queues exceeded 3,000, with validators awaiting new participants, indicating a high influx of new participants.
According to the data, the exit pressure had settled down to zero at the end of the dataset, whereas the entry demand had increased to approximately 1,500 to 1,800 validators.
