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Ethereum, the Layer 1 blockchain for most of the DeFi protocols available in the market, has seen drops both in metrics and in price since the start of the month. According to CoinMarketCap, the price of Ethereum went down by 6% in the weekly timeframe, and trading at $1,554. Nansen.ai, on the other hand, has been noting several key metrics that investors should watch out for as Ethereum’s Shanghai upgrade rolls closer to frame.  Meanwhile, DeFi has taken a blow from the recent volatility in the market. Total value locked (TVL) of DeFi has gone down by a percent, a figure that might not be so alarming but could still bring in some negative energy for investors. Related Reading: Shiba Inu Is The Crypto Of Choice By Top 100 Ethereum Whales – Here’s Why Markets Down, Investors Dragged According to a recent thread made by the company, Ethereum has been showing signs that both retail and institutional investors have bearish attitudes that contribute to the overall market depression seen right now. Source: CoinMarketCap In the simplest of explanations, traders are said to be more efficient at selling at the highs than buying at the dip. ‘Dip Buyers’, a category in Nansen’s report, only counted 23 traders that fit this category.  Join Nansen Research’s new Telegram channel: https://t.co/znbFCUCPZZ 🔔 Be the first to know when our latest reports are published. pic.twitter.com/i75zeOxAy4 — Nansen 🧭 (@nansen_ai) March 6, 2023 Sellers are also disposing more ETH to the open market. The Top Seller segment of the report also shows that they sold over 335k ETH. Investors that experienced a $40k profit are also avoiding ETH with a 50% decline in the metric. This can be attributed to external events that heavily impacted the markets, namely the Terra collapse.  Short to medium term, it’s not looking great for Ethereum either. CoinGlass data shows that short sellers outnumber the longs by a percentage which contributes to the overall marker dip as of press time. Macro Woes Work Hand In Hand With The Bears Recent macroeconomic news are pummeling the broader market as US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell announced that the Fed might be eyeing more rate hikes in the coming months. This came after February’s Year-on-Year Consumer Price Index report that shows only a 0.1% decrease in CPI from 6.5% to 6.4%. Before the release of the CPI data, analysts are bullish, forecasting a YoY CPI OF 6.2%. This set off financial markets to start the day low as bears enter, dragging the crypto market as well. All this comes before the release of Ethereum’s Shanghai upgrade. This can be bad news for ETH as it can be a repeat of the Merge event for the altcoin. Crypto total market cap at $988 billion on the daily chart | Chart: TradingView.com Related Reading: Bitcoin Backpedals To $22,000 Region Amid Worries About Silvergate The Merge was a hyped up event where Ethereum moved from proof-of-work (PoW) to proof-of-stake (PoS) which was hoped to bring investors some gains. However, the market saw significant losses that overshadowed the event.  If the Shanghai upgrade follows the Merge’s footsteps, investors might be faced with gains or losses as the macroeconomic situation either improves or not. -Featured image from The Motley Fool