The total cryptocurrency market cap declined nearly 3% in the past 24 hours to about $2.3 trillion, as major altcoins, including Ethereum (ETH), mirrored Bitcoin's downward trend. As the monthly candlestick closes this week, there is increasing speculation about a bearish outlook for the crypto market in September, a month historically challenging for Bitcoin and the broader crypto sector, especially following halving events.

ETH's price has dropped over 4% in the past two days, trading around $2,698. From a technical perspective, Ethereum has been forming a bearish continuation pattern on the daily chart. The recent death-cross between the 50 and 200-day moving averages, which occurred before the August 5 market crash, has intensified bearish sentiment. The daily Relative Strength Index (RSI) remains below the 50% level, indicating that bears maintain control. ETH has faced significant resistance around $2,827, a key level that needs to be reclaimed as support for bullish momentum.

Ethereum whales have increased their on-chain activity recently, likely due to concerns over further market downturns. Ethereum's fear and greed index fell from 53% to about 47% in the last 23 hours. On-chain data from Lookonchain shows that large transactions have occurred, including significant deposits by Cumberland and Amber Group to Binance and Kraken, totaling over 12.8k ETH worth $35 million. Another whale deposited 8.8k ETH worth $24 million to Binance, taking a substantial loss. Additionally, US spot Ether ETFs reported a net outflow of approximately 4,926 ETH, led by Grayscale's ETHE.