If people are buying ETH the the demand should increase not decrease, that proves the statement isn't real. And price volatility is not a feature nor a bug, it is just the reaction of market's movement as per human emotions.
If ETH hasn't been able to experience new highs, it means that demand for it is low. Not even institutional investors' involvement with it has been any help. I'm sure this has to do with the fact that competing chains (eg: Solana, BNB) are much cheaper and faster to use than ETH. The world's second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap may have the largest liquidity, TVL, and De-Fi ecosystem, but other chains have a better user experience. Vitalik and team must come up with something new that would "blow" its rivals "out of the water". Otherwise, I don't see any future for ETH.
All of the eyes are on Bitcoin right now. And for obvious reasons. It's the first crypto that started this craze, and it's also "Digital Gold". What does ETH have that would attract both retail and institutional investors? Nothing other than serving as "gas" for smart contracts. Hopefully, things change for the better in the long run. We'll see what happens...