Over the year, the main altcoin has risen in price by 600% and brought its holders twice as much profit as bitcoin. This could be the beginning of a long-term growth phase. There are several levels that are important for traders and investors to keep track of.
Over the past 12 months, Ethereum has risen in price by more than 600% and is now worth $ 1.2K, according to tradingview.com. By comparison, Bitcoin gained just over 300% of its value over the same period.
The key event for Ethereum was the launch of phase 0 of the second network, which was expected for over a year. In December, altcoin developers launched the Ethereum 2.0 deposit contract. Investors can transfer their coins to it and passively increase their number of staking offset, the annual yield is 10% per annum excluding costs. However, users will not be able to withdraw their ETH until the update reaches phase 1.5, the exact timing of which is not known.
Ethereum price predictions
The Ethereum rate can skyrocket to $ 3 thousand, suggested Simon Dedich, managing partner of Moonrook Capital fund. In his Twitter account, he wrote that the altcoin will show a two-fold growth in two weeks, as soon as it updates its all-time high of $ 1.4 thousand.
Dedic explained his assumption by analogy with bitcoin. Its rate at the end of December broke its previous record of $ 20 thousand, set in December 2017. Within 3 weeks after that, BTC rose in price to $ 40 thousand. The businessman is confident that Ethereum will show the same dynamics, and with it the market for all altcoins.
Currency.com financial analyst Mikhail Karkhalev believes that Ethereum has a chance to rise in price to $ 2.5 - $ 3 thousand, this is likely during 2021. The expert called the listing of altcoin futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), which will take place in early February, as one of the drivers of such growth. As soon as there is a lot of money in ETH, the rate can rise "quite high".
In addition, the altcoin season, which is expected in the crypto community, can help the rise in price of Ethereum, says Karkhalev. He clarified that the likelihood of repeating 2017, when most cryptocurrencies have risen in price several times, is small. However, do not underestimate the greed of retail investors, whose purchases of the coin can trigger the price soar.
The head of the Six Nines data center, Sergei Troshin, agreed that a two-fold increase in the cost of Ethereum is possible, but doubted that this would happen quickly. The Bitcoin example shows that updating a record takes time and requires a series of corrections in which traders will take profits. Also, the rise in the price of the asset will be hampered by the sale of cryptocurrency by investors who purchased it at the highs of the 2017 price.
Troshin added that Ethereum will grow following Bitcoin or significantly faster than it, as it has higher volatility. BTC can rise in price several times, therefore, and ETH too, the expert is sure. He added that altcoin has an advantage in the form of a decentralized finance (DeFi) sector. Altcoin is actively used in this area, and it has shown strong growth over the past year.
Growth to $ 2-3 thousand is not the limit for the Ethereum price, says Alex Saunders, founder of the Nugget's News information portal. In his Twitter account, he wrote that in the long term, the goal of an altcoin could be $ 5, 10 and even 20 thousand. Most coin holders are unlikely to sell it for less than $ 2 thousand, he admitted.
Is it time to buy Ethereum?
The main altcoin rate entered a phase of active growth in March this year. Then Ethereum fell below $ 90 during the panic in the global markets. Since then, the coin has risen in price by more than 1000%. On January 10, ETH set a local maximum of $ 1.35 thousand. Then there was a correction, the asset quotes fell to $ 0.91 thousand.
Do not expect a strong correction, it may not be, Troshin continued. It is worth buying Ethereum while its rate remains below the record high of $ 1.44 thousand, he said. As in the case of Bitcoin, the main trend is positive, the altcoin is likely to renew its maximum with a new rise in the BTC rate above $ 41 thousand.
Amsterdam Stock Exchange analyst Michael van de Poppe also looks positively on the prospects for Ethereum. In a column on Cointelegraph, he named several targets for the asset's price. The nearest one is at the level of a historical maximum, near $ 1.4 thousand. After overcoming it, growth may continue to $ 1.6 - 1.65 thousand, and then - to $ 2.05 - 2.10 thousand.
Poppe stressed that for such a scenario, it is necessary for the altcoin to overcome the resistance that formed near the $ 1.35 thousand mark. The expert also noted that before the start of a new wave of growth, it is likely that the asset will be trading near current values for some time.
Pope expressed his confidence in the long-term rise in the price of Ethereum in July last year. Then the analyst said that the altcoin rate could reach $ 5-10 thousand, this may happen during the next phase of growth in the digital asset market.