Will Ethereum Gas Prices Stay Elevated Through the Rest of 2026?

Been watching the on‑chain activity lately and the gas market feels a bit like a roller‑coaster that’s stuck on the high‑speed section. With ETH up only 0.602 % over the last 24 h and the Fear & Greed index stuck at a meager 15, we’re clearly in a risk‑off mood. That usually means less speculative trading, but the DeFi lending pools and perpetual contracts are still churning, especially on chains like TRON that just hit a record 3.93 M daily active addresses.

My gut says we’ll see gas fees hover near current levels for a while – the network’s still processing a lot of yield‑farm withdrawals and perps re‑balancing. Unless there’s a major upgrade or a sudden drop in on‑chain demand, I don’t expect a sharp dip. What’s the community feeling? Any of you seeing a slowdown in transaction volume that could finally bring those fees down before year‑end?