Ether Price Jumps to All-Time High Near $2,100

Ether jumped 5% Friday to an all-time high as the second-biggest cryptocurrency extended its winning streak to five days.

• The cryptocurrency traded as high as $2,097 around 20:41 UTC, according to CoinDesk 20 data, surpassing the previous high of $2,037 set on Feb. 21.
• The price has rallied 24% this week in the wake of Visa's decision to facilitate crypto-based settlements on the Ethereum blockchain network.
• Ether, the native cryptocurrency for Ethereum, has nearly tripled in price this year.
• In an announcement on Monday, Visa said it is working on a program to settle transactions in stablecoin USD coin (USDC) over Ethereum with its partner Crypto.com.
• Billionaire investor Mark Cuban, featured on the CNBC show "Shark Tank" and owner of the Dallas Mavericks professional basketball team, said on a recent podcast episode that he's bullish on cryptocurrencies including bitcoin and that ethereum is "the closest we have to a true currency."

• Ether's daily chart shows a symmetrical triangle breakout. The pattern indicates the multi-week consolidation has ended and the broader uptrend has resumed.
• The options market is making big bets on the second-largest cryptocurrency, as seen below.

• According to data tweeted by options analytics platform Genesis Volatility, traders are aggressively buying the $25,000 call option expiring on Dec. 31, 2021, listed on Deribit, the world's largest crypto options exchange by trading volume and open interest.
• Seasonality favors a more substantial rally in ether than bitcoin over the near term.
• "Ether has outperformed bitcoin in every May [to] date," Timothy Peterson, an analyst at Cane Island Alternative Advisors, told CoinDesk in a Twitter chat.

Also read: This Ether Options Play by Institutions Has Lottery Ticket Potential