Charted: Ethereum's $4,000 problem

The price of ether (ETH), the coin of the realm for Ethereum, the blockchain that popularized smart contracts, is up 100% over the last 90 days, but it can't quite seem to break through the $4,000 price barrier.

Why it matters: True believers remain long-suffering loyalists, because unlike other majors out there, ether hasn't notched a new all-time high since its last ebullient moment, in late 2021.

• In fact, it hasn't even broken its high price for December 2024, at $4,013. Even now, ether is about 22% off its old record of $4,878.
• The price this morning is $3,748.

Context: Rising over 100% in three months is great news for anyone who started dollar-cost averaging into major cryptocurrencies this year.

• But it's also true that ETH's growth, even with the recent surge, has been lackluster for those who've been in for many years now.

What we're watching: Options.

• There are more than twice as many calls on ETH now than there are puts, suggesting the market thinks the price is going up from here.
• The most popular call price by far right now is that nice round figure of $4,000. After that, the bets are roughly equally divided among $4,200, $5,000 and $6,000.

By the numbers: Coinshares reports that ETH saw its second strongest week ever for flows into its ETF products last week, at $1.59 billion. The best week was the week before that, with $2.1 billion, topping bitcoin flows both weeks.

Between the lines: If the market really is poised to go hard into bets on alternative cryptocurrencies, many of the classic alt coins live on that blockchain, which turns 10 years old tomorrow.

• Ethereum remains the favorite place for doing big business in stablecoins.
• And business in stablecoins is expected to swiftly pick up with a law on the books.

The bottom line: There are good signals for ETH all around at the moment. It's just been a poky little puppy.