Ether Prices Pass $20 Milestone in Network First

The price of ether, the native digital asset powering the ethereum blockchain, surpassed $20 for the first time ever yesterday, reaching a key milestone and continuing a rally it has enjoyed so far this week.

Ether hit $20 at 18:30 UTC, before pushing higher to reach a high of $21.10 at 19:15 UTC, data from the market's leading exchange, Poloniex, reveals.

Overall, ether experienced these robust gains amid strong transaction activity, as its 24-hour trading volume reached $38.5m at 23:59 UTC, CoinMarketCap figures show. This figure represented roughly 70% of the all-time high of $65.3m attained in March. It also exceeded the average daily volume of March, April and May, which was $29.34m, $16.54m and $27.88m, respectively.

Market observers have often asserted that ether displays a negative correlation with bitcoin, a more established digital currency, but the two have failed to follow this pattern in recent sessions.

Both have generated robust gains, as ether surged 47.8% in the last six sessions, opening at $18.29 on 11th June and $20.50 on 17th June, according to Poloniex figures, while bitcoin rose 32.5%, the CoinDesk USD Bitcoin Price Index (BPI) reveals.

If these two currencies were negatively correlated, they would not have rallied simultaneously. In fact, ether’s sharp rise would have coincided with bitcoin’s decline. The two seem to be confirming a new pattern that involves the digital currencies rising at the same time.

This trend could point to bitcoin and ether enjoying an influx of new fiat money, as historically, the gains in one frequently came at the expense of depreciation in the other.

ARK Invest

analyst Chris Burniske suggested this as a possible development when speaking with CoinDesk, noting earlier this month that bitcoin has managed to stay “roughly in the .022 to .026 BTC/ETH range” since its rally began in late May.

Aside from enjoying a new influx of fiat money, these two digital currencies might benefit from fear-of-missing-out syndrome after experiencing their latest rallies.

If so, ether and bitcoin could have far more gains to look forward to in the weeks ahead.

Charles L. Bovaird II is a financial writer and consultant with strong knowledge of securities markets and investing concepts.

Follow Charles Bovaird on Twitter here.

Twenty-dollar bill image via Shutterstock