Usage is increasing so more gas is being spent, value is added because of the vialibility of this blockchain. This token will more and more be seen as a secured investment. Investment banks and mainstream funds haven't really entered the crypto market yet. They won't purchase just a few thousand tokens.
yeah, 2018 is singled as a year of institutional investments and there is no doubt that it will be remembered as the year of encouraging developments in ETH domain. $1000 is my the least prediction.
I admit that Ethereum price is not growing but i am sure Ethereum price will be rise in near future.
We will be see like last year Ethereum hitted above $1.4k, hope so this year ethereum will be cross ATH price.
Don't consider the prices only, there are many other factors we have to consider like supply of bitcoin and supply ethereum. Of course, there are many panic people in the market and this makes them to sell them when the price is decreasing.