Ethereum, the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, reached new heights in 2025. While the token’s price is on track to limp into the new year, its record-setting climb is unlikely to continue given the prevailing conditions for Bitcoin (BTC), according to crypto strategist Benjamin Cowen.
“If Bitcoin is truly in a bear market, which is what it feels like, it would be kind of hard for Ethereum to go up there,” Cowen said on a Tuesday interview with the Bankless podcast.
The prediction comes after Tom Lee’s asset management firm Fundstrat Capital projected a “meaningful drawdown” in the first half of 2026. Specifically, Fundstrat expects Bitcoin to pull back 35% to the $60,000-$65,000 zone and Ether to $1,800-$2,000.
For Cowen, Ether successfully breaking above its current $4,946 all-time high, which it registered in August 2025, could just be a classic bull trap setup, a short-lived rally that lures investors back to the market before a major downtrend that would send the asset back to $2K.
ETH is changing hands at $2,963 as of press time, according to data from CoinGecko. Reclaiming its all-time high would represent a roughly 40% growth from its current level. But analyst Cowen thinks Ether can score new ATHs in 2026, though he doesn’t expect it to spark a domino effect across the wider crypto market.
“The only altcoin that I’m even considering this for is Ethereum. I think a lot of the other altcoins are kind of cooked at this point for the cycle,” he posited, explaining that it’s unlikely they’ll hit new record highs this cycle if they haven’t already.
Meanwhile, Tom Lee, who is the chief investment officer at asset management firm Fundstrat Capital and the executive chairman of BitMine Immersion Technologies, recently shared a conflicting Ethereum outlook. Lee suggested that ETH found its bottom after the second-largest crypto plummeted below the psychologically important $3,000 mark.
He is more excited about Ethereum’s future over the next 10-15 years, especially as Wall Street has adopted the layer-1 network and as it plays a growing role in the future of finance.
