Ethereum Price History: 2015 to 2024

Like many cryptocurrencies, Ethereum has been wildly volatile since its inception on July 30, 2015. But beyond the first few months when it was gaining a following, the price has gone up — wildly higher — over time. After years of trailing Bitcoin and its massive price increaseEthereum has become the second largest cryptocurrency by total value.

Ethereum has become one of the most popular cryptocurrenciesknown for its use in “smart contracts” that self-execute when pre-specified conditions are met. The cryptocurrency’s intense price volatility has also made it a popular trading vehicle, helping skilled traders make a lot of money, although many of them would have been just as well off holding — or Holdingas cryptocurrency fans say.

Despite the long-term gain, Ethereum has had substantial periods where it lost significant value. The price was obliterated in 2018 — losing 82 percent — after a huge rally the previous year as the cryptocurrency became popular. And it hasn’t fared so well in 2022 either, as rising interest rates have hit risk assets like cryptocurrencies and high-growth stocks.

Ethereum is the brainchild of programmer Vitalik Buterin, who along with others began developing the cryptocurrency project in 2014. Ethereum is perhaps best known for its smart contractsbut also allows users to create and trade Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) that are linked to various digital assets such as images and artwork.

Although the issuance of Ethereum coins is fixed, there is literally no limit to the total supply, unlike Bitcoinwhich is notoriously limited to 21 million coins.

Like almost everyone cryptocurrenciesEthereum is not backed by any tangible asset or cash flow from an underlying entity. Its price is supported solely by trader sentiment. When traders enter a “greed” or “risk-on” phase, the cryptocurrency soars. In the “fear” or “risk-on” phase, the coin plummets as sellers exit amid anticipated bad news or poor trading conditions.

See how the price of Ethereum has risen and fallen over time, as well as some of the trends driving these movements.

2015-2016: Ethereum launches and gains fans

Although Ethereum launched on July 30, 2015, it was hard to find prices for it until a week or so later. The cryptocurrency closed that day at $2.77 and then bounced below $1 for months as the newly launched digital currency sought support among crypto fans.

Then, to start 2016, the price rose to $1 per coin, where it closed on January 10th — and then never looked back. By the end of the month, it hit over $2, and then 10 days later it hit $4. March saw the coin trade at over $10 for most of the month and then it consolidated until May, when it broke decisively above that trading range before peaking above $20 in June.

But the spike was short-lived, and Ethereum fell back into a trading range of $10 to $12 over the next few months. After a brief spike above $14 in September, the cryptocurrency spent the rest of the year in a bearish trend, closing 2016 around $8 — still good for a 754 percent gain on the year.

2017-2019: Ethereum becomes popular, then hits crypto winter

Cryptocurrency hit the mainstream in 2017, with the wider public suddenly discovering digital currencies, including Bitcoin and Ethereum. This attention led to a massive selloff in these assets.

Ethereum started the year at under $10, but by mid-year it had soared to well over $300 as traders flocked to the coin. But all that heat needed time to cool off, and less than a month later, Ethereum was back below $200. The price needed time to consolidate, and it danced between $200 and $400 before settling back down to around $300 in early November.

At this point, cryptocurrency mania began to sweep the world in late 2017, and it seemed like the sky was the limit. By the end of December, Ethereum had surpassed $800, and just one week into 2018, it had crossed the $1,000 threshold, and a week later, $1,300. The deliriously rapid rise acted as its own accelerator, moving the cryptocurrency ever higher as more traders rushed to cash in.

But the rest of 2018 was a downhill slide. Ethereum fell below $400 in late March, a staggering decline in less than three months. Although it recovered to over $800 in early May, the selling pressure was too intense and the rest of the year saw the cryptocurrency fall sharply. Ethereum closed the year at $133 — a whopping 82% lower than the previous year.

Things improved in mid-2019, with Ethereum peaking at around $338 in late June. But from there, it fell back down, essentially back to where it started the year.

2020-2023: Ethereum soars on low interest rates

After a period of consolidation that saw Ethereum end 2019 at roughly the same point it began the year, the cryptocurrency has performed well in 2020.

Ethereum rallied well to start the year, but then, like most risk assets such as stocks, it plummeted in March as the COVID pandemic hit. As part of the recovery efforts, the Federal Reserve has cut interest rates to near zero and injected liquidity into the market in other ways, such as by buying debt securities. These efforts helped boost both the stock market and cryptocurrency prices, sending both soaring in 2020 and most of 2021.

In May, China announced it was cracking down on buyers, but Ethereum largely ignored the news. The country also warned that it was banning financial institutions and payment platforms from using cryptocurrencies to conduct business. In September, China announced that all cryptocurrency transactions would be considered illegal and that foreign websites offering such services to Chinese investors were against the law. But that didn’t seem to stop Ethereum from surging even further.

Ethereum started 2020 at around $130, but seemed to climb inexorably throughout the year, ending at around $737 — an impressive performance in just 12 months.

The first five months of 2021 saw Ethereum continue its impressive run. Within days of the start of the year, it had already surpassed $1,000. By early April, it had doubled from there to $2,000. By early May, Ethereum had hit over $3,000, and by May 11, it had surpassed $4,000 — spiraling upward, it seemed. But that was where the run ended.

Ethereum spent the next two months falling and then consolidating, before finally recovering in August and eventually peaking at over $4,800 in early November. The Federal Reserve indicated its intention to soon raise interest rates and otherwise remove liquidity from the system, leading to a fierce sell-off in stocks and the highly speculative cryptocurrency market.

In August, Ethereum also implemented a change that saw the cryptocurrency begin “burning” a portion of transaction fees on its network, permanently destroying them. The change helped make the cryptocurrency more deflationary, supporting its price in the long term. Ethereum closed 2021 at just under $3,700, up 399% year-to-date.

However, Ethereum has spent 2022 in a downturn despite relief rallies throughout the year, bottoming out near $1,000 in June. The big news this year was the so-called Ethereum Merge, the cryptocurrency’s shift from a “proof of work” system to a more efficient “proof of stake” system.

The cryptocurrency ended the year down about 67 percent, closing at $1,196. The Fed has been furiously raising interest rates for much of the year, and high-profile explosions like the one at cryptocurrency exchange FTX have shaken investor confidence.

Ethereum rallied strongly in 2023 as it became clearer that the future path of interest rates would be less severe than anticipated. Despite a SEC cracks down on exchanges like Binance and CoinbaseEthereum rallied for much of the year, though it hit a rough patch in August. But by October, it was surging as the Fed began to indicate a lower path for interest rates, before ending the year at nearly $2,300 — up 91% on the year.

2024: Ethereum ETFs are approved

Although the price of Ethereum was already on the rise in 2023, it received a new boost in early 2024, after the approval of Bitcoin ETFs in January 2024. This approval opened the possibility that Ethereum ETFs would also be a possibility, and the cryptocurrency rallied.

In late May, the SEC approved Ethereum spot ETFs in principle, paving the way for them to be traded on the New York Stock Exchange or Nasdaq.

Ethereum Returns by Year

Return Year

Source: CoinLore Data

Editorial Notice: All investors are advised to conduct their own independent research on investment strategies before making an investment decision. Furthermore, investors are cautioned that past performance of the investment product is no guarantee of future price appreciation.

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