In the wake of a New Year momentum, Ethereum (ETH) has overturned Ripple (XRP) to reclaim second spot on the coin market cap standings.
The upward movement ended XRP’s short reign at second spot behind Bitcoin which began in November and was followed by a 90% increment in overall ETH coin price since its bottom in mid-December.
See coin rankings and trading prices here: Cryptocurrency market cap
Currently trading at $156 from its last month bottom of about $80 – an 90% rise on monthly charts from mid-December and 12% rise over the last 48 hours show that Ethereum seems to have recovered some momentum as it leads as top coin gainer in the post Christmas rally.
Speculative Factors For Growth
Analysts and Crypto observers have attributed this price rally to about three (3) factors:
- Ethereum’s price being oversold due to its huge price dip, which some believe is its worst bottom. As is general trading technique an oversold RSI is a good buying indicator.
- An upcoming ETH hardfork known as Constantinpole slated for January 16. (Coin forks usually reduce the miner rewards and block time hence decreasing the supply of new ETH tokens in circulation and making the Ethereum network faster. This in turn is expected (not in all cases) to push up demand for Ethereum token and subsequently trigger a bull run in ETH price).
- Another likely factor is Ethereum co-creator, Joe Lubin calling the ‘cryptobottom of 2018’ saying it was “a year marked by epic amount of fear, uncertainty, and doubt from our friends in the 4th and crypto-5th estates”. Hence, his assertion may be a confidence booster.
In the past year 2018, Ethereum (ETH) tarried among the most hit cryptocurrencies in the bear market after taking a huge dip from its all-time high of $1,417. As in most cases, digital assets with a huge potential are expected to have a strong rally after their huge dip; hence once positive news or partnerships or activities are announced around the token, they tend to build up bullish momentum.
As at this time of publication, most coins including BTC and XRP are in red with dips from their rally prices between 1%-3%. However, Ethereum remains in the greens with a 1.69% early hours increase and currently trading at a price of $156.64 per coin as it continues its gradually upward movement.
Do you hold any Ethereum (ETH)?
