The recent surge of Ethereum indeed exudes an unusual intensity — the price of $3175 not only hit a new 23-week high, but more critically, there is almost no frenzy of retail investors chasing the rise in this wave; instead, institutional funds are crazily "sweeping up".

The most intuitive signal comes from ETFs: over the past two weeks, the inflow of funds into Ethereum-related ETFs has exceeded $1.3 billion, and the open interest (OI) in the futures market has skyrocketed to $46 billion — this means that large funds are betting real money on the subsequent trend of ETH, rather than small retail investors engaging in “hot potato” on the candlestick chart.

The technical trends are even more thought-provoking: from the arrangement of moving averages to volume coordination, the current pattern is astonishingly similar to the "accumulation phase" before the bull market started in 2021. No wonder many analysts dare to call a short-term target of $3500; this kind of "institution-led, technology-paved" market is often more sustainable than speculation led by retail investors.

What’s even more intriguing is the subtle change in market sentiment — when ETH stabilizes above $3000, more and more people start murmuring, "the altcoin season is coming." This is not without cause: historically, after mainstream coins stabilize, funds tend to flow into more segmented tracks along the ecological chain. The scaling concept of Layer 2, the yield logic of staking tracks, and even the catch-up opportunities of established DeFi may all take turns performing in the upcoming market.

Ultimately, this surge of ETH feels more like a "preheating" — institutions have confirmed ETH's asset value with their capital, and next, it's time for those "little brothers" rooted in the ETH ecosystem to begin their performance. #山寨季何时到来？