cryptovibes.com
While everyone was watching bitcoin closely as it entered a price discovery phase, some analysts have predicted four-figure Ethereum in the coming months. On December 16, Bitcoin exploded above $20K and in the process, it pulled the entire crypto market up with it.
As the flagship crypto looks to continue rising, Ether has also recorded new year-to-date highs after news emerged that the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) plans to launch ETH futures contracts in the coming year.
Bitcoin spiked into new highs gaining 10% in one day from $19,140 to $21,340. Today, BTC has extended its rally by an additional 4% for now. The market is developing some significant support near $21,800 after posting a local top of $22, 400.
Most of the traders in the market are fixed on the BTC charts but Ethereum is also surging and it gained 8.5% on December 16. Today, the second-biggest crypto has gained to record a local top of $656 on BitMEX. The markets are currently rotating around 0.5% above the previous day’s closing price of $640.
This ETH rally followed news that CME intends to launch the ETH futures in 2021 awaiting regulatory approval. It cited major customer demand for this product. CME introduced its BTC futures contracts in December 2017 and it signaled the top of that year’s historic rally.
Ethereum Will Surge Further
Some analysts believe that even greater surges for ETH are yet to come. One Twitter user ‘Altcoin Sherpa’ noted that ETH has started multi-month rallies in December that saw massive gains of at least 100% for every of the last three years. In that context, the analyst forecasts Ether will soon rise above $1,000 for the first time since 2017.
$ETH has started its run every December the last 3 years with at least 100%+ ROI over the following months. What makes you think this year will be any different? #Ethereum to $1000+ within the next few months IMO. $ETHUSD pic.twitter.com/TWznrDjXaU
— Altcoin Sherpa (@AltcoinSherpa) December 15, 2020
ETH perma-bull ‘wolfofethereum.eth’ said that “the $ETH show is just getting started,” indicating that ETH has outperformed BTC by $185% in the last 12 months.
Set Protocol’s Anthony Sassano published an image comparing the metrics for Ethereum when it last surpassed $500 and the situation currently. He noted a 900% surge in active developers, a 60% increase in active addresses, an 80% increase in 24-hr transaction count, and a 150% increase in network hash rate.
“Ethereum first reached $500 on November 29, 2017, in the late stages of the most recent bull market. Recently, $ETH hit $500 again so I decided to track how a few different metrics have grown since November 29th, 2017. pic.twitter.com/dvyilK8Vuc — Anthony Sassano | sassal.eth (@sassal0x) December 16, 2020.”
ETH/BTC shorts, particularly on Bitfinex, are sitting at record lows which suggests that the markets expect Ether to make gains over BTC for the near and middle-term. On the other hand, ETH/BTC longs are at their highest level since February 2018.
Weekly ETH/BTC shorts on Bitfinex: TradingView