Ether price surged by 3% to $2,550 on May 18, resulting in $22 million in short ETH liquidations. Analysts are optimistic about ETH hitting $3,000 this month, with a bull flag on the chart indicating a $3,700 target. Bitcoin price predictions also suggest a possible rise to $5,000 in May. Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and Bitsamp showed ETH climbing over 4.5% to $2,551 from a low of $2,440 on May 18. The market saw over $158 million in leveraged crypto positions liquidated in the past 24 hours, with $95 million in long liquidations and $22.25 million in short liquidations, $7.5 million of which happened in one hour alone. Analysts believe the recent ETH drop was a technical correction before resuming an uptrend towards $3,000. Market experts like Titan of Crypto and Chimp of the North suggest that ETH still has room to move higher, with potential retracements to $2,400 before aiming for $3,000-$3,300. Analyst Crypto Patel even mentioned a possible drop to $1,800 before a bullish rally towards $4,000-$5,000. Factors like AI adoption, spot ETF inflows, and the Pectra upgrade could propel ETH to new all-time highs around $5,000. Technical analysis indicates a bull flag pattern in the four-hour timeframe with an immediate support at $2,470 and a target of $3,720. However, a close below $2,470 could lead to further corrections towards $2,400 and $2,300. The article emphasizes that it does not provide investment advice and suggests conducting personal research before making any financial decisions.