Ether (ETH) is holding the $2,200 support level on Friday after a sharp pullback earlier this month erased its post-election gains. Trading platform IG now flags the $2,170-$2,156 zone as the cryptocurrency's next line of defense, with the 200-day simple moving average sitting near $2,156. Traders are also awaiting the upcoming US payrolls report for directional cues.

Why ETH Is Holding $2,200 After the Selloff

Ether briefly climbed above $2,400 following the US midterm elections before reversing course. According to IG, the roughly 8.5% fall recorded on November 5 tracked a selloff in technology stocks, and renewed selling also swept through cryptocurrency markets. Digital assets have increasingly traded in step with equities in recent years, which is why stock-market swings and macro data releases now carry added weight for crypto traders.

CoinGecko data shows ETH changing hands at $2,236.03, down 4.94% over the past 24 hours. The seven-day change is a gain of just 0.11%, while 24-hour trading volume stands at approximately $17.45 billion.

Institutional demand has softened as well. IG reports that US spot Ether ETFs have returned to net outflows, with redemptions totaling $427.9 million over the last five trading sessions. The figure undercuts hopes that institutional buying was beginning to recover. Spot ETF flows are widely tracked as a read on institutional positioning because the funds hold Ether directly and can be bought and sold through standard brokerage accounts.

Key Support Zone at $2,170-$2,156

IG Chief Technical Analyst Axel Rudolph said the sharp selloff has brought the $2,170-$2,156 support zone into play. The 200-day simple moving average, which tracks ETH's average daily close over the past 200 days, sits near the bottom of that range at $2,156.

Market analyst Daan Crypto Trades pointed to a similar area, noting that ETH is sitting on both the 0.618 Fibonacci retracement level and the daily 200-day moving average. The 0.618 Fibonacci mark is a widely used gauge of how far a price may pull back. He called the roughly $2,150 level key, warning that a break below it could extend the decline and give back much of the recent breakout candle.

Nearby chart support sits at $2,251 and $2,205, followed by $2,107. Deeper declines could expose $1,972 and $1,828 if sellers regain control.

IG outlined what a breakdown would mean: a clean daily close below $2,156 would confirm the end of ETH's late-summer recovery structure, shifting focus to the psychological $2,000 region.

Resistance Cluster Between $2,345 and $2,405

On the upside, ETH has slipped below its 20-, 50- and 100-day exponential moving averages. These EMAs weight recent prices more heavily than older ones and currently cluster between roughly $2,345 and $2,405, a band that is capping recovery attempts.

The first resistance zone combines the 100- and 20-day EMAs around $2,344-$2,348. A horizontal barrier at $2,355 sits nearby, followed by the 50-day EMA at $2,405. Stronger overhead hurdles sit at $2,548, $2,637, $2,782 and $3,076.

Momentum indicators lean negative. The Relative Strength Index, which measures the strength of recent price moves on a scale from 0 to 100, is near 40, and the Stochastic reading is near 28, a combination that points to dominant bearish momentum.

Daan Crypto Trades said ETH would need to move back above $2,350 to signal that bullish momentum has returned, and suggested trading the market level by level to avoid getting caught in the middle of the range.

The next test comes with the US payrolls data and a daily close relative to $2,156. A close below that level would put the $2,000 region in focus, while a move above $2,350 would challenge the EMA cluster. Payroll releases matter to crypto traders because they feed into expectations for Federal Reserve interest-rate policy, a key influence on appetite for risk assets.