Ethereum Fees Plummet to Five-Year Lows

Amid sluggish on-chain activity, the average transaction fee for the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization has fallen to levels last seen in May 2020.

?? BREAKING: Ethereum fees are at a 5-year low, with transactions currently costing just $0.168. This is the cheapest daily cost of making $ETH transfers since May 2, 2020. We briefly break this down in our latest insight. ?https://t.co/fg5CfRgsHn pic.twitter.com/QlLwyzdm1F

— Santiment (@santimentfeed) April 16, 2025

According to Santiment, a simple Ethereum transfer will cost the average user approximately $0.16.

“The sharp reduction in fees coincided with a decrease in the number of users sending ETH and interacting with smart contracts (DeFi, NFT, etc.), as these metrics fluctuate depending on network congestion,” explained researcher Brian Quinlivan.

However, the expert noted that it is currently “an excellent time for developers to create value efficiently.”

The chart below illustrates the stagnating transaction activity on the network:

Hope Remains

Quinlivan observed that historically low fees often precede price increases. Thus, purchasing cryptocurrency amid such metric values is “less risky than usual.”

“Overall, fees below $1 are a fairly promising signal that the crowd has lost interest. However, remember, there is no guaranteed ‘bottom’ or ‘top’ level every time fees drop below or rise above a certain level,” the expert warned.

He is confident that many retail investors have already “written off Ethereum,” which can also be considered a positive signal.

Over the past 14 days, the price of ETH has fallen by more than 12%; the asset is trading just below $1600, according to CoinGecko.

Earlier, analysts at CryptoQuant predicted a reversal for Ethereum. In their view, a price drop below the realized value indicates panic among cryptocurrency holders — historically, this serves as a bullish signal for the medium term.