Ethereum Is Quietly Closing In on Record Price Highs

Ethereum's ether token could revisit record highs very soon, courtesy of last week's bullish price action, the price charts suggest.

The cryptocurrency, which was notably given a higher rating than bitcoin and Ripple's XRP last week by Florida-based Weiss Ratings, is up 18 percent week-on-week, says data source OnChainFX. As of writing, ether ETH$3,104.74 is changing hands at $1,211.

Having bottomed out at $905 last Tuesday, the price of ETH rose to a 12-day high of $1,224 on Coinbase's GDAX exchange – a rebound that left a higher low (bullish set up) on the price chart.

Furthermore, previous day's 12 percent rise (UTC) was backed by a 78 percent jump in trading volumes, shows CoinMarketCap. A high-volume rally indicates strong hands are at play.

Notably, prices on South Korean exchanges are again being used in the calculation of global average by CoinMarketCap, having been removed in early January with no announcement and causing a drop in global prices.

Thus, ETH might have received a slight boost, with prices in South Korea still carrying a premium of approximately $70 over those on western exchanges. However, the Korean price premium has dropped sharply from the heady heights seen at the turn of the year.

So, the price rise appears to be more or less legitimate. Looking at the charts, ETH witnessed a bull reversal yesterday and could soon revisit record highs above $1,400.

Daily chart

The above chart (prices as per Coinbase) shows:

• ETH bottomed out around $927.29 (38.2 percent Fibonacci retracement of July to January rally).
• The higher lows pattern, as indicated by the rising trendline, indicates the bulls are in a dominant position.
• On Sunday, ETH closed (as per UTC) well above $1,166 (61.8 percent Fibonacci retracement of 13 to Jan. 17 sell-off).
• The 5-day MA and 10-day MA trend northwards, marking a bullish setup.

A close above 61.8 percent Fibonacci retracement indicates a bull reversal – i.e. the previous trend (bull run) has resumed. So, the drop to $1,150 seen today could be transient.

View

• ETH could revisit record highs above $1,400 in the short-run if the bulls defend the rising trendline support over the next couple of days.
• In the larger scheme of things, only a daily close (as per UTC) below $905 (Jan. 23 low) would revive the bearish outlook.

Disclosure: CoinDesk is a subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which has an ownership stake in Coinbase and Ripple.

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