Ethereum’s price has recorded impressive gains over the past week. Now, that might look promising at first glance. However, this outlook couldn’t be further from the truth as on-chain metrics reveal the possibility of stunted growth for the cryptocurrency market’s favorite altcoin – ETH.

Despite rallying by roughly 21% over the past week, the volume for Ethereum seems to be unseen. A price spike without a follow-through from volume indicates a fake run-up that is waiting to be reversed.

The on-chain volume for ETH has been trading at 12.93 billion, which is well below the 200-day moving average (MA) at 14.2 billion. This decline in volume, leading to a move below the 200-day MA, has been a persistent trend since 4 March. This seemed to be a sign of lacklustre interest from investors. Hence, the recent leg-up is likely to come undone the first chance it gets.

Source: Santiment

The 365-day Market Value to Realized Value (MVRV) model is used to assess the average profit/loss of investors who purchased ETH tokens over the past year. A negative value below 10% indicates that short-term holders are selling at a loss and is typically where long-term holders tend to accumulate since the risk of a sell-off is relatively low. Therefore, a value below -10% is often referred to as an “opportunity zone.”

At press time, the 365-day MVRV was at –9.3% revealing that long-term holders have been accumulating for a while. Although the index could move to zero, a further ascent seems unlikely considering past data.

Therefore, the upside for Ethereum price remains limited and lends credence to the technical perspective.

Source: Santiment

While these two metrics point to the possibility of a lack of momentum for Ethereum’s price, the supply