Why is Ethereum stuck below $2,500 even as ETF inflows stay strong?

Ethereum price has slipped 1% over the past 24 hours to around $2,480 on Sept. 8, leaving ETH below the $2,500 level as traders wait for US inflation data.CoinGecko puts Ether at roughly $2,480, with the token still up around 0.8% over the past seven days after trading between approximately $2,375 and $2,525 during the period.ETH has repeatedly moved above $2,500 since Sept. 4 but has failed to hold those gains, keeping the price in a tight range.The lack of direction comes as traders prepare for the US August Consumer Price Index report on Sept. 11, the final inflation reading before the Federal Reserve's Sept. 15–16 policy meeting.Markets are pricing in close to a 60% chance of a rate hike this month following stronger US employment figures.US employers added 162,000 jobs in August, while the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 4.1%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.Average hourly earnings increased 0.3% from July and 3.1% from the previous year.The jobs report pushed Treasury yields higher as traders raised their expectations for another rate increase.The two year Treasury yield rose five basis points to 4.38% after the release, adding pressure on risk assets ahead of the CPI report.Fed Governor Christopher Waller has tied his position on a September increase to the upcoming inflation numbers.Waller would support keeping rates unchanged if inflation continues to ease, while a stronger reading could lead him to back an increase.ETH has faced its own supply barrier during the wait. Price has struggled to stay above $2,500, with resistance extending through roughly $2,511 to $2,546.Repeated attempts to clear the area have been met with selling, while buyers have continued to defend prices closer to $2,475.Selling pressure has not been uniform across Ether holders. Wallets holding between 1,000 and 10,000 ETH reportedly sold roughly 214,000 ETH last week, while addresses holding 100 to 1,000 ETH reduced their balances by another 93,000 ETH.Wallets in the larger 10,000 to 100,000 ETH group accumulated around 82,000 ETH over the same period.Meanwhile, Crypto analyst Ali Martinez reported that 116,000 ETH worth more than $300 million left exchanges between Sept. 6 and Sept. 7, reducing the amount of Ether immediately available on trading platforms, a sign that some holders are accumulating.Institutional flows have remained positive as well. US spot Ether exchange traded funds recorded $218.4 million in net inflows during the week ending Sept. 4, extending their run of positive weekly flows to three consecutive weeks.The combination has left ETH caught between buying away from exchanges and selling near its immediate resistance zone, with the Sept. 11 CPI release now sitting directly ahead of the Fed decision.ETH price analysisEthereum's daily chart shows price consolidating around $2,480 after the sharp August breakout carried ETH from below $2,000 towards $2,500.Since reaching the current area, daily candles have clustered between roughly $2,400 and $2,550 without giving back most of the August move.COINBASE:ETHUSDT 1-day price chart. Source: TradingView." class="wp-image-895135"/> 1-day price chart. Source: TradingView.The Directional Movement Index still favours the buyers on the daily timeframe. The positive directional indicator stands at 30.17, well above the negative directional indicator at 7.67.ADX has climbed to 50.70, showing that the trend established during the August move remains strong even though price has stopped climbing over the past several sessions.Chaikin Money Flow remains above zero at 0.11. The reading has dropped from levels above 0.20 reached after the August breakout, meaning buying pressure has eased, but capital flow has not turned negative while ETH trades below $2,500.A daily close through the $2,511–$2,546 resistance area would give ETH room to test approximately $2,626.Clearing that level could open a move towards $2,690–$2,750, while the heavier supply area around $2,723–$2,822 could limit a larger move.The 4-hour chart shows why ETH has struggled to reach those targets. See below.COINBASE:ETHUSDT 4-hour price chart. Source: TradingView." class="wp-image-895136"/> 4-hour price chart. Source: TradingView.Donchian Channels place the midpoint near $2,490, almost directly where Ether is trading, while the upper boundary sits at roughly $2,537 and the lower boundary at $2,444.Price moving around the centre of the channel confirms the lack of a short-term directional break.TRIX has fallen sharply from above 70 during the August surge to 5.01.The indicator has recently turned slightly higher after briefly moving below zero, but the small recovery has yet to return momentum to the levels seen during the breakout.A 4-hour close above the Donchian upper band near $2,537 would put ETH through much of the resistance that has contained price since late August.The first target would remain around $2,626, followed by the $2,690–$2,750 area if buying volume expands.Failure to hold $2,475 would instead put the Donchian lower boundary near $2,444 in focus.A break below the channel would expose support around $2,431, followed by the $2,385 area if sellers push ETH below its recent range.