Don't invest unless you're prepared to lose all the money you invest. This is a high-risk investment and you should not expect to be protected if something goes wrong. Take 2 mins to learn more.
Estimated reading time: 2 min
Due to the potential for losses, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) considers this investment to be high risk.
What are the key risks?
1. You could lose all the money you invest
The performance of most cryptoassets can be highly volatile, with their value dropping as quickly as it can rise. You should be prepared to lose all the money you invest in cryptoassets.
The cryptoasset market is largely unregulated. There is a risk of losing money or any cryptoassets you purchase due to risks such as cyber-attacks, financial crime and firm failure.
2. You should not expect to be protected if something goes wrong
The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) doesn't protect this type of investment because it's not a 'specified investment' under the UK regulatory regime – in other words, this type of investment isn't recognised as the sort of investment that the FSCS can protect. Learn more by using the FSCS investment protection checker.
The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) will not be able to consider complaints related to this firm or Protection from the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) does not cover poor investment performance. If you have a complaint against an FCA regulated firm, FOS may be able to consider it. Learn more about FOS protection here.
3. You may not be able to sell your investment when you want to
There is no guarantee that investments in cryptoassets can be easily sold at any given time. The ability to sell a cryptoasset depends on various factors, including the supply and demand in the market at that time.
Operational failings such as technology outages, cyber-attacks and comingling of funds could cause unwanted delay and you may be unable to sell your cryptoassets at the time you want.
4. Cryptoasset investments can be complex
Investments in cryptoassets can be complex, making it difficult to understand the risks associated with the investment.
You should do your own research before investing. If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
5. Don't put all your eggs in one basket
Putting all your money into a single type of investment is risky. Spreading your money across different investments makes you less dependent on any one to do well.
A good rule of thumb is not to invest more than 10% of your money in high-risk investments.
If you are interested in learning more about how to protect yourself, visit the FCA's website here.
For further information about cryptoassets, visit the FCA's website here.
Ethereum (ETH) is a cryptoasset that currently ranks as the 2nd largest by market cap (that's the total value of Ethereum in circulation – $370 billion).
Like all cryptoassets, it's highly volatile, and capable of major price swings in a single day. As of 6 May, ETH is trading for $3,087.33 (£2,457.82), a decrease of 2.03% against $3,151.34 24 hours earlier. Over the past year, Ethereum's price has seen a barnstorming increase of 63.96%.
How to buy Ethereum in 4 steps
Compare crypto exchanges
The easiest way to buy Ethereum is from a cryptocurrency exchange. Comparing in the table below lets you find one with the features you want such as low fees, ease of use or 24-hour customer support.
Create an account
To create an account on an exchange, you will need to verify your email address and identity. Have some photo ID and your phone ready.
Make a deposit
Once verified, you can deposit funds using the payment method that best suits you – cryptocurrency, bank and card payments are widely accepted.
Buy Ethereum
You can now exchange your funds for Ethereum. On easier-to-use exchanges, this is as simple as entering the amount you want to purchase and clicking "Buy". If you like, you can now withdraw your Ethereum to your personal wallet.
The whole process can take as little as 15 minutes and all you'll need is a smartphone or computer, an internet connection, photo identification and a means of payment.
Find an exchange to buy, sell and trade Ethereum by comparing deposit methods, supported fiat currencies and fees. Select "Go to site" to sign up directly with the exchange.
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These exchanges cover a wide range of cryptocurrencies, but we can’t guarantee they’ll all offer this coin.
Is it a good time to buy Ethereum?
Only you can make the decision about when is the best time to buy Ethereum. However, here are some things to consider as part of your research.
Take a look at the fundamentals of Ethereum. What type of coin is it? Utility, payment or governance token etc? How large is its market cap? How many coins are in circulation? All this will help you to understand how Ethereum works and how much risk is involved.
Also consider how has performed so far. Our charts below show you Ethereum's performance over time as well as its all time high.
This price chart helps you to see how Ethereum is performing against a fiat currency like USD. It shows the opening, high, low and closing prices for each period and is a visual representation of Ethereum range within that period.
Ethereum price chart
Ethereum at a glance
Information last updated 6 May 2024, 05:05 UTC.
Coin symbol
ETH
Coin Marketcap
$370,021,839,159
Total ETH supply
120,099,597
Circulating ETH
120,099,597
Current price
$3,087.330000
All time high
$4,878.26
All time high date
10 November 2021
Notable team members
Vitalik Buterin, Mihai Alisie, Vlad Zamfir
Ethereum price performance over time
For a more in-depth view, this chart shows you how Ethereum has performed over time. You can see historical prices up to 1 year previously.
Historical prices compared with the price of $3087.33 at 6 May 2024, 05:05 UTC.
1 hour
0.03%
24 hours
-2.03%
7 days
-2.52%
14 days
-3.10%
30 days
-7.55%
60 days
-19.33%
200 days
97.15%
1 year
63.96%
What is the current price of Ethereum versus it's all time high?
Our chart to tracks how Ethereum has performed in the last 24 hours and compares it with its all time high. You can see where the current price sits in comparison to the last 24 hours, as well as what today's price is vs its peak.
ETH price last updated 6 May 2024, 05:05 UTC.
$3,060.71 (24h low)
$3,221.25 (24h high)
$0
$4,878.26 (10 Nov 2021)
Recent Ethereum developments
2 November, 2023: Ethereum is up 10% over the past month, lagging behind Bitcoin’s impressive gain of 28% int he same period. October 3, 2023: 6 new ETH, futures-based ETF’s, launched in the US on Monday, seeing $1.92 million of volume in their first day of trading. 1 September, 2023: A US district court dismissed a lawsuit against Uniswap Labs, ruling that the plaintiffs failed to prove that the UNI token was a security and that Ethereum was a commodity under federal law.
Where could Ethereum's price be heading?
ETH is expected to close out 2023 at $2,342, according to the average prediction provided by Finder's panel of fintech specialists.
Key statistics from 2022 reports:
In 2022, Finder's panel predicted what price Ethereum would reach at the end of the year. The panel had big predictions in January and April of $6,500 and $5,783 with price predictions dropping off a cliff in July. The panel predicted Ethereum would be worth just $1,711 at the end of the year on average, not far off Ethereum's actual end-of-year price of $1,757.
In January, 11% of panellists said ETH's move to proof-of-stake will cause a price drop. However just one in five panellists (19%) said January was a good time to sell ETH.
54% of the panel think Ethereum will eventually overtake BTC by market cap, with more than a quarter (29%) saying it will happen as soon as 2024.
35% of panellists said ETH's deflationary mechanism following the Merge will positively impact price.
In October 46% of panellists said they thought Ethereum was underpriced.
At the start of 2021 Ethereum was worth just over $1,000 but Finder's panel predicted massive growth for the cryptocurrency. In April and July the panel predicted an end-of-year price of over $4,500 and this jumped to more than $5,000 in October. The panel's end-of-year price prediction ended up being pretty accurate – something that doesn't happen a lot in cryptocurrency - with ETH ending the year valued at $5,183.
Key statistics from 2021 reports:
In July 93% of the panel said ETH will eventually be more frequently transacted than BTC and 68% said ETH will "flip" BTC by market cap.
In October the panel said it expected ETH to lose 30% of market share to alternative layer-1 networks over 2021.
One in ten panellists said they thought SOL would overtake ETH as the primary DeFi platform.
Our calculator works out how much Ethereum would be worth in USD and GBP, depending on how much you hold or are looking to purchase.
ETH price last updated 6 May 2024, 05:05 UTC.
*Cryptocurrencies aren't regulated in the UK and there's no protection from the Financial Ombudsman or the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. Your capital is at risk. Capital gains tax on profits may apply.
Cryptocurrencies are speculative and investing in them involves significant risks - they're highly volatile, vulnerable to hacking and sensitive to secondary activity. The value of investments can fall as well as rise and you may get back less than you invested. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. This content shouldn't be interpreted as a recommendation to invest. Before you invest, you should get advice and decide whether the potential return outweighs the risks. Finder, or the author, may have holdings in the cryptocurrencies discussed.
James Edwards is the global cryptocurrency editor at Finder. He coordinates a distributed team of journalists to help further Finder's mission of helping people make better financial decisions.
He has been using Bitcoin since 2013 and began working in the industry in 2017. He takes pride in boiling down complex topics into language his parents can understand.
His expertise has seen him called on to report at events such as TechCrunch Disrupt, CoinDesk Consensus and IBM Think and has coordinated a vast number of high-profile interviews with the industry's brightest minds.
He is a regular contributor to Nasdaq, The Street and is frequently called upon for market commentary in Australia and abroad.
This guide provides step-by-step instructions on how to buy Arbitrum, lists some exchanges where you can get it and provides daily price data on (ARB).
Learn how to buy Litecoin in the UK with our simple step-by-step guide and tips on what to know before you get started.
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