Ethereum Prices Above $170 Still Look Weak

Ethereum’s outlook is looking bearish, with prices trading around $174. The crypto-currency is trading below the 9-day moving average, below the bearish trade line, with a RSI that slipped beneath the level 50 on October 10th, all signs that the bears are controlling momentum at present.

Yesterday, prices couldn’t breach above the moving average and the bearish trend line above the $178 level. Market sentiment is decidedly bearish, with most investors expecting the ETH/USD to keep falling.

On the daily chart, looking at Coinbase’s data, the nearest level of support lies at $170.21. Beneath this, other supports can be found at $165,87 and $157,68. According to the trader Jacob CANFIELD,

“Bulls needs to break out of the downtrend to get out of the woods. Another test of $165 could be danger as it has already been tested many times in the past month. A break there could signal a fall to $142 for its next support”.

CFDs could be great options for traders wanting to take advantage of short-term price movements

Depending on your financial goals, your investment horizon and your trading style, there are a range of different ways to benefit from Ethereum’s price movements. If you want to buy and hold Ether tokens, you can convert fiat currencies into Ether tokens and store them in a wallet.

If you want to trade Ethereum to take advantage of rapid price changes, you can use CFDs (Contract for Difference). This leveraged financial product will allow you to benefit from leverage and margin trading to increase your exposure to the crypto-currency market. You will therefore be able to make quick profits trading the price of Ether against the dollar. One of the greatest aspects of trading Ethereum CFDs is that you can take advantage of bullish and bearish market movements, all without owning the actual tokens themselves.

Ethereum could become a more secure network than the Bitcoin’s

Ethereum’s price is still losing ground since its peak at $364,49, which was reached in June. However, it has gained more than 33% since the beginning of the year and fundamentals are still very solid, which could support its price over the longer term. For some analysts, such as the investor Spencer NOON, the price trend of the Ethereum isn’t reflecting the growth of the blockchain network activity (nor the amount invested into DeFi, or Decentralised Finance).

Moreover, future changes in Ethereum’s protocol could support a more secure and cheaper network. While Bitcoin is firmly based on the Proof-of-work (PoW) protocol, the Ethereum blockchain wants to adopt a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) model based on a consensus algorithm, in which the creator of the next block is selected by several combinations of random selections. Thus, the way the next block’s creator is selected could make the Ethereum blockchain safer than the Bitcoin blockchain, according to Vitalik BUTERIN.

The Ethereum blockchain is almost full

Changes to the Ethereum blockchain could improve the scalability of the Ethereum network, which should support its adoption, as scalability is an important issue to overcome to bring down the costs and accelerate Ethereum transactions.

“Scalability is a big bottleneck because the Ethereum blockchain is almost full. If you’re a bigger organization, the calculus is that if we join, it will not only be more full but we will be competing with everyone for transaction space. It’s already expensive and it will be even five times more expensive because of us. There is pressure keeping people from joining, but improvements in scalability can do a lot in improving that,”

explained Vitalik BUTERIN to The Star.

Of course, scalability isn’t the only challenge to overcome to trigger massive adoption. Any network needs to work on its usability, its security and its privacy.

What do you think about Ethereum’s performance this year? Do you believe that the future changes made in the Ethereum network will support its price?