Arthur Hayes, chief investment officer at Maelstrom and co-founder of BitMEX, said Ether could reach roughly $5,000 within about a year, requiring a gain of nearly 89% from the approximately $2,650 level when he made the forecast. He argued that Robinhood’s Ethereum-based Robinhood Chain could give large financial institutions a reference point for adopting Ethereum. Ether had risen more than 9% since the start of September 2026 and traded near $2,676.75 on September 28, with $2,700 as immediate resistance and $2,640 as key support. Whale transactions worth more than $1 million rose from 1,202 to 7,113 in one week, while large holders accumulated more than 320,000 ETH worth about $864 million at prices near $2,650. U.S. spot Ether ETFs attracted $689.8 million across five trading sessions, while staking, reduced exchange balances and DeFi activity pointed to tighter available supply. Ether still faced a supply zone between $2,722 and $2,822 containing more than 13.3 million ETH, and a separate $99 million 25x leveraged long position faced liquidation at $2,552 unless additional collateral was posted. The forecasts, technical assessments and market indicators are not investment advice.