The cryptocurrency market is in turmoil right now. For a number of reasons, crypto prices are surging one day and crashing the next.

This rocky road may shake out some weak names and bad actors, leaving the truly valuable cryptocurrencies to make the most of the market opportunities that remain.

Among this week's many plunging crypto names, you'll find Ethereum (ETH -1.44%) dropping down from a recent plateau of roughly $1,500 per token.

In fact, Ethereum has retreated all the way down to roughly $1,300.

In fact, Ethereum has retreated all the way down to roughly $1,300.

Is this the beginning of the end for Ethereum, or should investors get excited about this opportunity to pick up the second-largest crypto name on the cheap?

Ethereum executed a long-awaited technology upgrade in September.

Ethereum executed a long-awaited technology upgrade in September.

"The Merge" moved the cryptocurrency's blockchain foundation from the resource-intensive proof of work model to a leaner and faster proof of stake design.

The change also set the stage for further improvements, such as sharding and dramatically lower transaction fees.

The change also set the stage for further improvements, such as sharding and dramatically lower transaction fees.