Ethereum price

Ether creates history as key metric in ETH options exceeds Bitcoin by 32%

While Ethereum created history by taking over Bitcoin in the options market, the ETH futures contract entered price backwardation.

Ether (ETH) has taken over Bitcoin (BTC) in the options market for the first time in history as the open interest (OI) of Deribit Ether options, with a value of $5.6 billion, exceeded the OI of Bitcoin options worth $4.6 billion by 32%.

OI is calculated by adding all the contracts from opened trades and subtracting the contracts when a trade is closed. It is used as an indicator to determine market sentiment and the strength behind price trends. Deribit is the world’s biggest BTC and ETH options exchange, accounting for more than 90% of the global trading volume.

The data from the Deribit exchange highlighted that ETH options are mainly call options, with a put/call ratio of 0.26. The ETH Put/Call ratio has hit a new yearly low as the Merge date nears.

Ethereum Open Interest Put/Call Ratio Source: The Block

Under the put option, buyers have the right but not the obligation to sell the underlying asset at a predetermined price on or before a specific date. Overall, put buyers are implicitly bearish, while a call option trader is bullish.

A put/call ratio greater than 0.7 or exceeding one indicates bearish market sentiment, while a put/call ratio value lower than 0.7 and falling close to 0.5 indicates an emerging bullish trend.

Related: Ethereum Merge: How will the PoS transition impact the ETH ecosystem?

The recent surge of ETH OI in the options market with an underlying bullish sentiment among traders is being attributed to the upcoming Merge slated for the third week of September.

While ETH continues to see growing dominance in the options market, the ETH futures quarterly contracts, scheduled to expire in December 2022, have slipped into backwardation, wherein the futures price becomes lower than the spot price. Ether’s spot and futures price grew to -$8 on Monday. While this might seem like a bearish outlook, BTC surged 15% after price backwardation in June.

Apart from the growing bullish anticipation for the upcoming proof-of-stake (PoS) transition, analysts have also pointed toward the possible airdrop scenario in case of a chain split. A survey from Galois Capital revealed that 33.1% of respondents believe the upgrade would lead to a hard fork, while 53.7% anticipated a smooth network transition.

Crypto contagion deters investors in near term, but fundamentals stay strong

Many experts believe that the recent slew of insolvencies may be good for the market in the long run, weeding out any weak players from the industry.

The past six-odd months have been nothing short of a financial soap opera for the cryptocurrency market, with more drama seemingly unfolding every other day. To this point, since the start of May, a growing number of major crypto entities have been tumbling like dominoes, with the trend likely to continue in the near term.

The contagion, for the lack of a better word, was sparked by the collapse of the Terra ecosystem back in May, wherein the project’s associated digital currencies became worthless almost overnight. Following the event, crypto lending platform Celsius faced bankruptcy. Then Zipmex, a Singapore-based cryptocurrency exchange, froze all customer withdrawals, a move that was mirrored by crypto financial service provider Babel Finance late last month.

It is worth noting that since December 2021, nearly $2 trillion has been wiped out from the digital asset industry. And, while markets across the board — including equities and commodities — have been severely affected by the prevailing macro-economic climate, the above-stated slew of collapses have definitely had a role to play in the ongoing crypto drain. To this point, Ben Caselin, head of research and strategy for crypto exchange AAX, told Cointelegraph:

“The contagion has played a big part in the recent downturn, but we cannot ignore the wider market conditions and the change in fiscal policy as important factors playing into price. The situation concerning Celsius, Three Arrows Capital but also Terra is expressive of an over-leveraged system unable to withstand severe market stress. This should in the least serve as a wake-up call for the industry.”

He went on to add that increasing mass adoption of digital currencies in the future should be done by expanding the scope of crypto beyond its prevailing “sound money narrative.” Caselin highlighted that the market as a whole now needs to take into account and implement financial practices that are sound and sustainable in the long run.

What do the recent insolvencies mean for the industry?

Felix Xu, CEO of decentralized finance (DeFi) project Bella Protocol and co-founder of ZX Squared Capital, told Cointelegraph that the past month has been a “Lehman moment” of sorts for the crypto market. For the first time in history, this industry has witnessed the insolvency of major asset managers such as Celsius, Voyager and Babel Finance within a matter of months. 

According to his personal research data, while ailing projects like Voyager and Genesis collapsed due to the fact that they had the most exposure to Three Arrows Capital (3AC), the collapse of 3AC, Celsius and Babel Finance emanated due to rogue management practices associated with the assets of their users. Xu added:

“I believe the first wave of forced liquidation and panic selling is now over. As asset managers and funds file for bankruptcies, their crypto collaterals will take a long time to be liquidated. On the other hand, DeFi lending platforms such as MakerDAO, Aave and Compound Finance performed well during this downturn, as they are over-collateralized with strict liquidation rules written into their smart contracts.”

Going forward, he believes that the crypto market is likely to move in correlation with other asset classes including equities, with the industry potentially taking some time to rebuild its lost investor confidence. That said, in Xu’s opinion, what happened last month with the crypto market is nothing new when it comes to the traditional finance space. “We’ve seen it in the 2008 financial crisis and the 1997 Asian financial crisis,” he pointed out.

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Hatu Sheikh, co-founder of DAO Maker — a growth technologies provider for nascent and growing crypto startups — told Cointelegraph that the aftermath of this contagion has been strongly negative but not for the reason many people would imagine:

“A key loss here is that many of the centralized finance platforms that went bankrupt due to the contagion were active onramps to the industry. Their unsustainable and often deceptive means of attracting new industry participants brought millions of people to trickle deep into nonfungible tokens and DeFi.”

In Sheikh’s view, while DeFi onboarding may come to a halt or at least slow down in the near term, many venture capital firms operating within his space have already raised billions and are thus capable of continuing to inject funds into many upcoming startups. “We’ll have a new roster of companies that’ll replace the lost ones’ role of being an on-ramp to the industry,” he said.

Undisputed damaged to the market’s reputation 

Misha Lederman, director of communications for decentralized peer-to-peer and self-custody crypto wallet Klever, told Cointelegraph that the recent crash has definitely damaged the reputation of the industry but believes that the aforementioned insolvencies have helped cleanse the industry of bad players, adding:

“This presents a huge opportunity for blockchain platforms and crypto communities with a responsibility-driven approach to innovation, in which user funds are protected at all costs. As an industry, we have to be better than the fiat debt system we aim to replace.”

A similar opinion is shared by Shyla Bashyr, public relations and communications lead for UpLift DAO — a permissionless and decentralized platform for token sales and swaps — who told Cointelegraph that the industry has been hit hard and is currently shrouded with more negativity than ever before. 

However, she believes such scenarios are sometimes needed since they present new opportunities to build transparent products that provide additional insurance, hedging and security for peoples’ investments.

Sheikh pointed out that while there’s rampant criticism that DeFi apps have lost billions, it is worth noting that the losses accumulated by CeFi lenders are notably higher:

“The fact remains that the notable blue chips of DeFi have remained mostly unscathed, yet the losses in CeFi are from industry leaders. However, as crypto CeFi is a stepping stone in people’s journey to DeFi, the industry’s adoption will be steeply hurt in the short term.”

He concluded that the “CeFi contagion” could eventually prove to be a powerful catalyst for the growth of its decentralized counterpart as well as a validation of crypto’s core use case, such as being self-sovereign wealth. 

The future may not be all bad

When asked about what lies ahead for the crypto market, Narek Gevorgyan, CEO of CoinStats, told Cointelegraph that despite the prevailing conditions, the market has already started showing promising signs of recovery, stating that institutional investors are back on the playing field and exchange inflows are on the rise. 

In this regard, banking titan Citigroup recently released a report stating that the market slide is now in recession, with researchers noting that the “acute deleveraging phase” that was recently in play has ended, especially given that a vast majority of large brokers and market makers in within the industry have come forth and disclosed their exposures.

Not only that, but the study also shows that stablecoin outflows have been stemmed while outflows from crypto exchange-traded funds have also stabilized.

Gevorgyan believes that the trust investors had built up over the last couple of years has been somewhat dissolved due to recent events. Nevertheless, the blockchain community is still better funded than at any point in its short history, with development most likely to continue. He then went on to add:

“The Terra implosion triggered a meltdown that brought several CeDeFi platforms down with it. The community has become more aware of the shortcomings of the CeDeFi model. Overall, the string of insolvencies has provided the crypto market with a chance to start afresh, as DeFi2 and Web3 are continuing to become more significant. Maybe the Metaverse will take center stage in this new configuration.”

CeFi vs. DeFi

Sheikh believes that the best of CeFi has lost more than the worst of DeFi, highlighting that Bitcoin (BTC) has continued to remain one of the most liquid assets in the world. In his view, the next wave of retail adopters will have glaring references to the problem of skipping self-custody, thus paving the path for greater focus on decentralized apps, especially as the market continues to mature.

On the other hand, Bashyr sees a lot of protected projects such as insurance protocols and hedged products flourishing from here on out. In her opinion, decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) will become more prominent and functional, providing real governance and allowing users to participate in instrumental decisions by voting on proposals that make a difference.

Recent: Decentralized storage providers power the Web3 economy, but adoption still underway

Lastly, in Xu’s opinion, the insolvencies have resulted in millions of users calling for regulations like those governing traditional finance within the global crypto economy so as to increase transparency on investment of user assets. Xu added that since DeFi benefits from no single point of control while offering full transparency and autonomous rules, it will eventually take over the crypto asset management business.

Therefore, as we head into a future plagued by economic uncertainty, it will be interesting to see how the future of the crypto market plays out. This is because more and more people are continuing to look for ways to preserve their wealth — thanks, in large part, to the recession fears that are looming large on the horizon — and therefore consider crypto to be their way out of the madness.

Ethereum Merge: How will the PoS transition impact the ETH ecosystem?

Ethereum is all set to transition to PoS by the third week of September, but most of the promised scalability features will only be available after 2023.

The Ethereum blockchain is on the verge of one of the most crucial technical updates since its inception, moving from proof-of-work (PoW) to proof-of-stake (PoS), also called Ethereum 2.0, or Eth2. 

Ethereum devs gave Sept. 19 as the perpetual date for the merger of the current PoW chain to the PoS chain. The Merge is expected to be deployed on the Goerli testnet in the second week of August. After the successful integration of the Goerli testnet, the blockchain will initiate the Bellatrix update in early August and roll out the Merge two weeks later.

The discussion around the transition began with a focus on scalability, so Ethereum developers proposed a three-phase transformation process. The transition itself is nearly two years in the making, starting on Dec. 1, 2020, with the launch of Beacon Chain, initiating Phase 0 of the three-phase process.

The Beacon Chain began the shift to PoS, enabling users to stake their Ether (ETH) and become validators. However, Phase 0 did not affect the main Ethereum blockchain: The Beacon Chain exists alongside Ethereum’s mainnet. However, both the Beacon chain and mainnet will eventually be linked with the Merge.

Phase 1 was meant to launch in mid-2021 but was delayed to early 2022, with developers citing unfinished work and code auditing as major reasons. From Phase 1 onward, Eth2 will house Ethereum’s entire history of transactions and support smart contracts on the PoS network. Stakers and validators will officially step into action, as Eth2 will take mining out of the network.

Phase 2, the final phase of the transition, will see the introduction of Ethereum WebAssembly, or eWASM, over the current Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). WebAssembly was created by the World Wide Web Consortium and is designed to make Ethereum significantly more efficient than it currently stands. Ethereum WebAssembly is a proposed deterministic subset of WebAssembly for the Ethereum smart contract execution layer. The eWASM was specifically designed to replace the EVM, which would see implementation in Phase 2.

Marius Ciubotariu, co-founder of Hubble Protocol — a decentralized finance (DeFi) lending platform — told Cointelegraph that he is not really worried about the delays, as any new technology with such vast implications on the ecosystem would take time:

“PoS is not live yet; however, I do not see this as a concern. I understand the Merge has taken longer than some would expect. But, with new technology and the opportunity for critical issues, a non-rushed approach is the best one. As this Merge goes live, I’m confident more protocols will show up. We’ll continue innovation within the Ethereum community; something I have and continue to enjoy seeing/experiencing.”

Merge’s impact on the Ethereum ecosystem

The upcoming Merge will see the current PoW mainnet merge with the Beacon Chain, transferring the whole Ethereum history to the new chain. A complete change of consensus for an ecosystem as large as Ethereum will have a dramatic impact from both a technical and political perspective.

Barney Chambers, co-founder and co-lead developer at cross-chain DeFi platform Umbria Network, told Cointelegraph that the Merge will be challenging:

“The accumulation of Ethereum will centralize in the hands of validators who already hold the majority of the tokens. The Ethereum Foundation claims that the merge will not impact the price of Ethereum, but the Merge will cause a fundamental shift in the way that new tokens are distributed and this will have a dramatic effect on the price of both Ethereum and the entire cryptocurrency ecosystem.”

The proof-of-work mining difficulty level will skyrocket due to the difficulty bomb, making it unable to conduct mining at economically viable scales. The difficulty bomb is a code ingrained in the Ethereum protocol since 2015. It is set to execute every time a specific number of blocks have been mined and added to the blockchain. It makes the mining activity on the existing proof-of-work blockchain significantly harder.

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As a result, Ethereum’s proof-of-work chain would be compelled to stop generating blocks, as the difficulty bombs would make mining a block nearly impossible. This situation is described by its developers as an “Ice Age.” The bomb’s simple goal is to encourage miners to merge completely, which will increase the adoption of the proof-of-stake chain.

The transition to a new PoS network became necessary for Ethereum, given its expanding ecosystem leading to several network congestion and very high gas fees. Over the past year, however, the narrative has also shifted toward PoS being more environment-friendly than PoW. While some laud Eth2 as paving the way for a more environmentally friendly protocol, Patricia Trompeter, CEO of carbon-neutral crypto mining company Sphere3D, has other thoughts. Trompeter told Cointelegraph:

“PoS only leads to unnecessary spending and misallocated energy resources, as ‘Band-Aid solutions,’ and marketing schemes like the ‘Change The Code’ campaign don’t offer any solutions to a full industry shift toward renewable resources.” 

Patricia believes PoS rather dismantles crypto’s decentralized infrastructure, “pushing power toward the wealthiest holders with unimpeachable control over users.”

Post-Merge, ETH issuance will drop to about 0.6 million per year, with a similar 2.7 million ETH burned, meaning a net 2.1 million ETH burned per year, or -7% in yearly ETH supply, making it a deflationary asset. ETH miners will be out of business officially once the difficulty bomb hits, being forced to mine other PoW coins with the same hashing algorithm for their existing equipment or fully exit the market.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has predicted that the transition would not only help scale the network but also bring down the energy consumption by 95%. The transaction processing speed is expected to get on par with centralized payment processors. However, none of these features would arrive with the Merge on Sept. 19.

The major scalability solution called sharding that allows for parallel transaction processing will only arrive after the completion of Phase 2, which is expected to take place in the second half of 2023.

Daniel Dizon, co-founder and CEO of noncustodial and liquid ETH staking protocol the Swell Network, told Cointelegraph:

“The Merge represents a significant change to Ethereum’s underlying economic model and hardware requirements, resulting in massive energy output reduction. It is expected there will be a significant demand for ETH as the rewards from participation in ETH staking will be increasing significantly from priority fees and MEV capture. The implication of the Merge is not fully priced in. Increased demand and reduced issuance for ETH will result in structural upward pressure on price compared to the existing state of Ethereum today.”

Does the Merge make Ethereum a security?

Apart from the technical and financial impact of the Merge, the biggest discussion seems to be around whether Ether would qualify as security once the network makes the move to PoS. The discussion has gained a lot of steam online in recent days and the answer to the question would depend on who you ask.

The debate around Ethereum’s security status was prevalent long before the transition to PoS came into the picture. The debate gained a lot of momentum after the United States Securities and Exchange Commission filed a lawsuit against Ripple, deeming its sale of XRP tokens as a security.

Many XRP proponents have since pointed to the “pre-mine” of ETH and have often blamed the SEC for giving Ethereum a free pass. The confusion and dilemma around security status arise from a lack of clear regulations for the crypto market. While lawmakers agree that Bitcoin (BTC) can be regarded as an independent asset class, the status of Ethereum has been a topic of debate.

Adam Levitin, a research professor at Georgetown University Law Center, outlined what could make the PoS-based Ethereum network a security in the eyes of regulators:

He added that “Howey speaks of an investment of ‘money,’ but that has always been interpreted just to mean an investment of value. Putting up a stake readily satisfies this element.”

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Coin Metrics co-founder Jacob Franek countered Levitin’s argument, suggesting that Ethereum is one of the most decentralized platforms with open-source support.

Another major concern about the PoS transition has been the centralization in the decision-making process. Konstantin Boyko-Romanovsky, CEO of reward-monitoring and block transactions validation platform Allnodes, told Cointelegraph:

“While the risk of centralization with Ethereum’s new consensus mechanism PoS exists, it is ways away from being realized. So far, the strong community behind the Ethereum network has tackled every challenge, and there is no reason to assume that the issue of centralization won’t be resolved either.”

The Ethereum blockchain has become the backbone of the DeFi, nonfungible tokens and decentralized autonomous organizations. While the ecosystem will continue to support such nascent use cases, the true transition to PoS with sharding and high scalability features will only be available after 2023. The success of Eth2 will highly depend on the execution of the final phase, but many market pundits are still skeptical about it, given the past delays.

Finance Redefined: DeFi’s downturn deepens, but protocols with revenue could thrive

The majority of the top 100 DeFi tokens traded in green, with many registering double-digit gains over the past week.

Welcome to Finance Redefined, your weekly dose of key decentralized finance (DeFi) insights — a newsletter crafted to bring you some of the major developments over the last week.

This past week, the DeFi ecosystem saw several new developments related to the DeFi lending crisis as Celsius filed for bankruptcy. At a time when bears are more dominant in the current market, DeFi protocols with a revenue system can thrive.

Lido Finance has announced plans to offer its Ether (ETH) staking services across the entire L2 system. Aave plans to leverage Pocket’s distributed network of 44,000 nodes to access on-chain data from various blockchains, and gamers are plugging in DeFi through the Razer reward partnership.

The majority of the top 100 DeFi tokens traded in green, with many registering double-digit gains over the past week.

DeFi downturn deepens, but protocols with revenue and fee sharing could thrive

As the crypto winter drags on, savvy crypto investors have realized that one of the reliable sources of passive income that still exists can be found in protocols that generate revenue and share some of it with their respective communities.

Data from Token Terminal shows revenue positive platforms are primarily the nonfungible token (NFT) marketplaces like LooksRare and OpenSea.

Continue reading

Ethereum staking service Lido announces layer-2 expansion

In a Monday blog post, the Lido team noted that it would initially begin by supporting Ether staking via bridges to L2s using wrapped stETH (wstETH). Moving forward, it will eventually enable users to stake directly on the L2s “without the need to bridge their assets back” to the Ethereum mainnet.

In terms of partnered L2s, the team stated that before the announcement, it had already integrated its bridged staking services with Argent and Aztec. It added that the next collection of partnerships and integrations would be unveiled over the next few weeks.

Continue reading

Aave taps Pocket Network to beef up decentralized app development

Aave, an open source DeFi protocol, is teaming up with decentralized Web3 infrastructure provider Pocket Network to offer developers increased scalability and ease of use when building decentralized applications (DApps) on the Aave Protocol.

According to the statement on Tuesday, Aave will use Pocket’s distributed network of more than 44,000 nodes to access on-chain data from various blockchains to power decentralized applications. Developers building Aave-powered DApps may now access blockchain data from Pocket Network on demand following the new integration.

Continue reading

Gamers plug into DeFi through the new Razer rewards partnership

Gamers and customers of IT and gaming hardware firm Razer are set to plug into the world of DeFi through a new rewards swap program in partnership with Cake DeFi.

Razer remains a household favorite brand for gamers around the world, with its Razer Gold rewards program allowing gamers to earn and redeem Razer Silver points for a variety of hardware and digital rewards, including Steam games and discount vouchers.

Continue reading

DeFi market overview

Analytical data reveals that DeFi’s total value locked registered a near $5 billion rise from the past week, posting a value of $58.65 billion. Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that DeFi’s top-100 tokens by market capitalization had a mixed week, with several tokens trading in red while a few others registered even double-digit gains.

Lido DAO (LDO) was the biggest gainer among the top 100 DeFi tokens with an 80% rise over the past week, followed by Fantom (FTM) with a 28% surge. Avalanche (AVAX) registered a 26% surge over the past week, while ThorChain (RUNE) saw a 21% rise in price over the past seven days.

Thanks for reading our summary of this week’s most impactful DeFi developments. Join us next Friday for more stories, insights and education in this dynamically advancing space.

Ethereum Classic soars 100% in nine days outperforming ETH as ‘the Merge’ approaches

Ethereum’s transition to proof-of-stake could be a boon for the price of Ethereum Classic.

Ethereum Classic (ETC) has been outperforming its arch-rival Ethereum’s native token Ether (ETH) during the current crypto market rebound with the ETC/ETH pairs at 10-month highs.

Why is ETC beating ETH?

ETC’s price has risen to $27 on July 22, amounting to a 100% gain in nine days after bottoming out at $13.35. Comparatively, ETH’s price has seen a 64% rally in U.S. dollar terms.

ETC/USD versus ETH/USD daily price chart. Source: TradingView

Ethereum’s rebound has been among the sharpest among the top cryptocurrencies, primarily due to the euphoria surrounding its potential network upgrade in September.

Dubbed “the Merge,” the long-awaited technical update will switch Ethereum from proof-of-work (PoW) to proof-of-stake (PoS).

Moreover, it will replace miners with stakers. As a result, the PoS switch could force existing Ethereum miners to switch to PoW chains.

Unsurprisingly, Ethereum Classic is the closest to Ethereum in terms of network design and compatibility because Ethereum Classic is the legacy chain split from Ethereum following a contentious hard fork in July 2016. 

Speculators are thus anticipating Ethereum Classic to become the first choice for miners migrating from Ethereum, and this is likely one of the main reasons ETC’s recent price surge. 

ETC price technicals lean short-term bearish

From a technical standpoint, Ethereum Classic has been reeling under the pressure of its 200-day exponential moving average (200-day EMA; the blue wave in the chart below) near $27.35.

ETC/USD daily price chart. Source: TradingView

ETC/USD has witnessed a strong bearish rejection near the wave resistance on July 19, confirmed by the largest spike in its daily trading volume in almost a year. In addition, the rejection came after testing the 0.382 Fib line at around $27.47 as resistance.

Related: All ‘Ethereum killers’ will fail: Blockdaemon’s Freddy Zwanzger

ETC now consolidates inside the $22–$25 price range with its interim bias skewed toward the downside due to an “overbought” relative strength index (RSI).

ETC eyes a decline toward its 50-day EMA (the red wave) near $19 if it decisively breaks below $22—over 25% lower than July 22’s price.

Conversely, a successful break above $25 and the 200-day EMA could have ETC’s price rally over $30.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.

Bitcoin wobbles on Wall Street open as Ethereum hits $1.6K in 6-week high

Bitcoin and Ethereum both gain but ETH price action takes the prize as Bitcoin cools momentum.

Bitcoin (BTC) took a step back as Wall Street trading began on July 22 after recovering most of its previous losses.

BTC/USD 1-hour candle chart (Bitstamp). Source: TradingView

BTC bulls fail to sustain assault on multi-week high

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView confirmed BTC/USD encountering fresh resistance near $24,000.

The pair had spent the past 24 hours slowly clawing back lost ground after news that Tesla had sold most of its BTC holdings.

With the pre-announcement high of $24,280 still in force, bulls saw something of a setback as Wall Street opened on the day, with BTC/USD losing around $400.

Analyzing the current order book structure on major exchange Binance, on-chain monitoring resource Material Indicators warned that the overall bear market structure remained in control.

“Extreme lows and drops usually results in a revert to the mean move, or relief rally. Basically sellers are exhausted and buyers step trying to buy the bottom, causing a relief rally,” popular trader Crypto Tony added, reiterating that “the main trend remains bearish currently.”

United States equities were similarly muted on the day, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite Index seeing modest declines on the open. 

The U.S. dollar index (DXY), in consolidation during the week, continued its downturn, targeting 106 for the first time since July 5.

U.S. dollar index (DXY) 1-day candle chart. Source: TradingView

Ethereum runs the show among altcoins

While also coming off its local highs, Ether (ETH) still gave analysts plenty to be excited about.

Related: Ether price stalls at $1,630 after gaining 50% in under a week

ETH/USD hit $1,640 on the day, marking its highest level since June 11 before returning to linger around the $1,600 level at the time of writing.

“Textbook bull flag breakout as Ethereum continues its hot streak,” trading software provider TrendSpider told Twitter followers about the ETH/USD daily chart as the highs entered.

Ethereum was once again the leader in terms of daily gains among the top ten cryptocurrencies by market cap. Versus its lows from just 10 days prior, ETH/USD was up 62%.

ETH/USD 1-day candle chart (Binance). Source: TradingView

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.

Ether price stalls at $1,630 after gaining 50% in under a week

The ETH price stalls following a week of gains, leading analysts to call for a pullback in the short term followed by a rally into September when the mainnet Merge is predicted to occur.

Price action across the cryptocurrency market was largely subdued on July 21, as traders took a day to digest gains over the past week and book profits following the biggest relief rally since early June.

Amid speculation about what drove the recent rally, the Ethereum Merge has consistently ranked at the top of the list. The market rally shifted into high gear after a tentative date of Sept. 19 was set for the mainnet Merge.

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that after hitting a high of $1,620 on July 20, Ether’s (ETH) price retraced to a low of $1,463 in the early trading hours on July 21 and has since climbed back above support at $1,500.

ETH/USDT 1-day chart. Source: TradingView

Now that the initial price surge brought on by the Merge announcement has subsided, here’s what several analysts are expecting to unfold as Ether’s mainnet transition to proof-of-stake approaches. 

A healthy pullback

Ether’s pullback on July 21 is a positive development according to market analyst Rekt Capital, who posted the following chart highlighting the importance of its weekly close above $1,300 and subsequent move higher.

ETH/USD 1-week chart. Source: Twitter

Rekt Captial said:

“Though #ETH could just continue higher to reach the upper orange region, it would be healthier for ETH to dip. Such a retest of the lower orange area would only increase probability of continuation.”

July 21’s pullback aligns with this outlook and suggests the possibility of a move up to $1,700 in the near future.

Watch out for a sharp drop to $1,200

Ether’s modest retrace was also an anticipated development by crypto trader and pseudonymous Twitter user Team Lambo, who provided the following chart showing the clear rejection at $1,630 and 10% retracement.

ETH/USDT 1-day chart. Source: Twitter

Team Lambo explained in a Twitter post:

“Now the bigger correction will come below $1,440 and almost certainly will see a sharp drop towards $1,200 so keep on waiting for that move for #Ethereum.

Related: What are the long-term goals for the Ethereum blockchain? Vitalik Buterin explains live at EthCC

Lower highs and higher lows

A more nuanced analysis of the recent price action for Ether was offered by market analyst CryptoLinns, who posted the following chart noting that the move on July 20 did not set a new high while the drop on July 21 did not establish a new low on the 4-hour chart. 

ETH/USDT 4-hour chart. Source: Twitter

CryptoLinns said,

“The last candle showed a long lower shadow line, which proves demand appeared. But volume is not enough. Watch out whether the demand of this candle now is persistent.”

According to CryptoLinns, the current support level is located at $1,450 while overhead resistance is found at $1,630.

A final bit of insight into the critical levels to watch on the Ethereum chart was provided by crypto trader Altcoin Sherpa, who posted the following chart identifying lower levels of support at $1,012 and $1,281 and overhead resistance at $1,701, $2,145 and $2,465.

ETH/USD 1-day chart. Source: Twitter

The overall cryptocurrency market cap now stands at $1.039 trillion and Ether’s dominance rate is 18%.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.

Crypto recaptures $1 trillion market cap: BTC hits $22K, ETH ‘Giga mooning’

The total market capitalization for all of the cryptocurrencies has surged past $1 trillion in a day of big green candles.

Bye-bye, Monday blues, hello bullish news — the total crypto market capitalization has retaken the $1 trillion level. The crypto market cap is now almost as valuable as all the silver on the planet.

A price pump for Bitcoin (BTC) brought the world’s most decentralized cryptocurrency into the $22,500 range, while Ethereum (ETH) enjoyed a double-digit “Giga pump” to kiss the $1,500 mark. Their combined efforts have culminated in a 4.8% pump to the entire crypto market, lifting it to a recent high of $1.02 trillion.

Bitcoin reclaimed the meme-worthy target of $420 billion in market cap, while Ethereum is sitting pretty at a total market cap of $180 billion, having added more than $20 billion in the past 24 hours. As per the below graph, the last time that the crypto market crossed the $1 trillion level was on June 13.

Total crypto market cap for the past 3 months according to coinmarketcap.com/charts

A reminder on market capitalizations: In the case of Bitcoin and most mined cryptocurrencies, the “market cap” refers to the total value of all mined coins. For Bitcoin, it’s simple: multiply the total number of Bitcoin mined since January 3rd, 2009, (a little over 19,096,775) by the current price per Bitcoin, circa $22,000.i

The trillion dollar mark was welcome news to crypto advocates on Twitter. They were quick to celebrate the momentous milestone, while some, such as DonAlt, queried whether the new price levels could indicate a bullish reversal: 

Indeed, the beaten-down market is eager to bask in bullish news, given that the fear and greed index has sat at “extreme fear” or “fear” for months on end. 

Caution, fear and greed index still sits in extreme fear. Source: alternative.me

Nonetheless, before reaching for the champagne, spare a thought for the previous crypto market cap all-time high. It tipped the $3 trillion mark in quarter four of 2021, meaning $2 trillion has been lost. 

Related: Bitcoin hodling activity resembles previous market bottoms: Glassnode

The crypto market cap reached the same value as Apple’s stock in April 2021 before surpassing $3 trillion. However, Apple is currently valued at $2.4 trillion, while crypto sits at $1 trillion. Consequently, there are some ways to go for crypto to match one of the world’s biggest, and certainly among the most well-known, companies.

2018 Ethereum price fractal suggests a $400 bottom, but analysts say the merge is a ‘wildcard’

A key ETH price indicator suggests the altcoin’s downtrend could extend to $400, but analysts are unsure whether the upcoming Ethereum Merge will be a bullish or bearish event.

There’s no rest for the weary during a bear market, and the Crypto Fear and Greed index shows that investor sentiment has been stuck in a state of “extreme fear” for a record 70 consecutive days.

As the market looks for a catalyst to reverse the trend, there is little on the horizon besides the Ethereum (ETH) Merge that seems capable of sparking a rally. If that is indeed the case, the market could continue to trend down or sideways until the tentative Merge date of September 19.

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that Ether price remains sandwiched in the trading zone it has been trading in since June 13 and it is currently running into the upper resistance near $1,240.

ETH/USDT 1-day chart. Source: TradingView

With the Merge still a couple of months away and little else on the roadmap for Ethereum in the near term, here’s what analysts are saying to watch out for.

Ether now trades above its moving averages

A short message of hope at this significant level of resistance was provided by futures trader Peter Brandt, who posted the following chart and simply stated “Maybe baby $ETH.”

ETH/USD 1-day chart. Source: Twitter

Additional context to go along with Brandt’s observation was provided by crypto trader Albert III, who posted the following chart highlighting the fact that Ether is now trading above several key moving averages.

ETH/USD 4-hour chart. Source: Twitter.

The analyst said,

“We got a bullish cross between 200 & 50 moving averages on 4h. Looking for more upside locally.”

Ethereum’s Merge is the “wildcard”

A more in-depth perspective for Ether moving forward was offered in the recent “ETH 30d returns outlook” report released by cryptocurrency research firm Jarvis Labs, which used the 30-day returns metric to “measure the short-term profit and loss of the aggregated market at a given time.”

30-day returns for Ethereum. Source: Jarvis Labs

As shown on the chart above, the 30-day returns for Ether are now “moving towards 0% after being deeply negative since April,” which suggests that the market is getting more bullish as the Merge approaches.

According to Jarvis Labs, instances when the 30-da returns dip below 0% during bull markets, indicate “prime buying opportunities,” while “flips above 0% are ideal selling opportunities” during bear markets.

When compared to the Ether price action during Q4 of 2018 where it consolidated in the low $200 range before dipping to $82 in December, “a repeat of this fractal now would bring Ether to the $400 range by December 2022.”

30-day returns for Ethereum. Source: Jarvis Labs

According to Jarvis Labs, if this fractal does indeed replay itself, “all pumps up to the $1,700 level will trigger sell-offs for the next 1 year.”

Jarvis Labs said,

“Conversely, a flip of $1,700 from resistance back to support would be equal to summer 2020’s flip of ~$350 and could signal the start of a brand new bull run.”

As a final word of caution, Jarvis Labs warned that while “short-term rallies to the $1,400–$1,700 range are possible,” traders should be careful as “they’re likely to be met by strong selling.”

Related: ECB report likens PoW to fossil fuel cars, PoS to electric vehicles

Eyeing the supply zone at $1,420

The outlook for Ether in the near term was covered by analyst and pseudonymous Twitter user Crypto Tony, who referenced the following chart, outlining the next level of resistance to keep an eye on.

ETH/USDT 4-hour chart. Source: Twitter

Crypto Tony said,

“I am looking for the gap to be filled above as [we] make our way to the next supply zone at $1,420.”

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.

Bitcoin price drops to lowest since May as Ethereum market trades at 18.4% loss

Bitcoin threatens its lowest weekly close since late 2020 as low weekend liquidity exacerbates existing weakness.

Bitcoin (BTC) saw further losses on June 12 as thin weekend trading volumes fueled an ongoing sell-off.

BTC/USD 1-hour candle chart (Bitstamp). Source: TradingView

Analyst likens risk asset ‘pump’ to 1929

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD hitting lows of $27,150 on its sixth straight day of downside.

With hours to go until the weekly close, the pair was in danger of resuming the losing streak, which had previously seen a record nine weeks of red candles in a row.

To avoid that outcome and put in a second “green” close, BTC/USD needed to gain over $2,000 from the current spot price, which at the time of writing was $27,400.

BTC/USD 1-week candle chart (Bitstamp). Source: TradingView

With support levels failing to change the mood thanks to the thinner liquidity during the weekend’s “out-of-hours” trading, analysts feared that a retest of May’s ten-month lows was due.

“Well, Bitcoin couldn’t hold $29.3K and started dropping down some more. Looking to see how the $28.5K area is going to react,” Cointelegraph contributor Michaël van de Poppe wrote in his latest BTC update on June 11:

“If that doesn’t hold, $26/24K on the cards.”

Amid continuing talk of “capitulation” across other crypto assets, many focused on the fate of highly-correlated stock markets. Mike McGlone, senior commodities strategist at Bloomberg Intelligence, risk assets more broadly could already have seen peak exuberance in the past two years.

“If the stock market keeps going down, virtually everything will have peaked,” he told Twitter followers:

“Just some normal reversion can feel like a crash and the 2020-21 risk asset pump may go down in history like 1929 and 1999.”

At the day’s lows near $27,000, meanwhile, Bitcoin traded the closest to its May “mini” capitulation event since that day of turmoil took place at the hands of the Terra LUNA implosion.

For many, the question was thus how to know where the true macro price floor for Bitcoin could lie.

“If price reaches low 20ks, you will see most of CT calling for 10k or even lower. That will be the bottom confirmation,” popular Twitter account Il Capo of Crypto argued.

As Cointelegraph reported, guesses for a generational bottom range from as high as $27,000 to a grimly bearish $14,000 or even lower.

Ethereum makes key realized price crossover

For altcoins, meanwhile, the picture was more precarious.

Related: Bitcoin price threatens lowest weekly close since 2020 as inflation spooks markets

A look at the top ten cryptocurrencies by market cap revealed heavier daily losses than BTC/USD, with some shedding over 10%.

Ether (ETH), the largest altcoin, fell around 7% on the day, taking the spot price below the realized price for the first time since May.

Realized price refers to the combined price at which each token last moved, and its breach put ETH at increased risk of panic-based capitulation. Bitcoin’s realized price, at around $24,000, was barely touched during the May dip.

“With the price declines over the weekend, the Ethereum market has fallen below the $ETH Realized Price of $1,781,” on-chain analytics firm Glassnode commented on an accompanying chart:

“This means the market is holding an average unrealized loss of -18.4%. The Realized Price of ETH 2.0 deposits is higher at $2,404, with an unrealized loss of -39.6%.”

Ethereum realized price vs. ETH/USD annotated chart. Source: TradingView

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.