Ethereum (ETH), the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, has surged past the $2,000 mark for the first time since April 2023, following a rally in the altcoin market led by Ripple’s XRP. The price of ETH reached a high of $2,045 on Thursday, according to CoinMarketCap, before retracing slightly to trade around $1,940 at the time of writing.
As Ethereum’s price inches closer to $2,500, ETH 2.0 stakers are at a critical juncture. Insights revealed that a significant portion of ETH was acquired at the aforementioned average price, indicating potential resistance at the $2,500 mark. While Ethereum’s impressive 70% year-to-date gain has bolstered stakers’ confidence, surpassing this resistance level might be formidable.
The bullish momentum for ETH comes amid a series of positive developments for the Ethereum network, such as the launch of the London hard fork in June 2023, which introduced a new fee-burning mechanism that reduces the supply of ETH. Additionally, the transition to Ethereum 2.0, which changed Ethereum’s consensus model from proof-of-work (PoW) to proof-of-stake (PoS), has boosted investor and developer confidence.
Ethereum has been experiencing a decrease of 2.88% over the past 24 hours and currently holds a price tag of $1,940.13. The 24-hour trading volume of ETH is recorded to be $8,919,293,070.
Most indicators are pointing to a bullish trend for Ethereum as the Relative Strength Index (RSI) is seen to be at 65.39. The MACD line has crossed over the signal line, pointing to a bullish market trend.
Moreover, a significant portion of the staked ETH was purchased at an average price of $2,390, suggesting that many stakers are still in the red and might be tempted to sell their ETH once they could access their funds. This could create downward pressure on the price of ETH and prevent it from breaking above the $2,500 resistance level.
However, a potential solution exists for stakers who want to liquidate their ETH without waiting for the merge. Several platforms offer liquidity staking derivatives for ETH 2.0, such as LidoDAO and RocketPool. These platforms allow users to stake their ETH and receive tokens representing their stake and rewards on Ethereum 2.0. These tokens could then be traded, transferred, or used as collateral on other platforms.
Therefore, ETH 2.0 stakers would have to weigh their options carefully and decide whether to hold on to their stake until they merge or take advantage of liquidity staking derivatives. Either way, they would play a crucial role in shaping the future of Ethereum and its price trajectory.
