Ethereum’s Ether Surges to New All-time High on the Path to $1050.69

During the Asian trading session of January 2, ethereum’s ether surged to a fresh high against the dollar and is up more than 12 percent on the open. The altcoin traded as high as $879.00 before retreating somewhat to current levels near $850.

The weekly price action of ETH-USD on the Kraken exchange is shown below. Since closing above the first Fibonacci extension level at $651.62 on December 18, ether has managed to galvanize the gains.

A large bearish Spinning Top formed for the week beginning December 18 and the market has since edged above the high of this candlestick, suggesting a bullish bias. We look to go long just above $863.00 with a target of $1050.69, the second Fibonacci extension level shown on the chart below.

ETH-USD (Kraken, Weekly)

The daily price action for ether is displayed below. A daily close above $863.00 on January 2 will give a strong bullish signal. The move higher is supported by greater volume on the Kraken exchange, with interest in trading the altcoin rising for three consecutive days.

Another indication that ETH-USD will continue its upward trend is given by the conversion line (blue) which has jumped sharply higher. Finally, by looking at the Awesome Oscillator, we see that a bullish saucer pattern is forming. The entry signal for the bullish saucer is likely to be given on January 3, as a break above January 2’s high will indicate to go long.

ETH-USD (Kraken, Daily)

Against bitcoin, ether bottomed out around 0.0237 during early-December and now looks to head toward equilibrium, as indicated by the Ichimoku cloud, around 0.0800. Ether still stands far away from its all-time high in terms of bitcoin, which is at 0.1529 from the rally in June 2017. A weekly close above 0.0676 would open up the 0.1000 psychological level for ETH-BTC.

ETH-BTC (Poloniex, Weekly)

Ethereum temporarily regained second place regarding market capitalization on January 2 as the altcoin moved above the $800 handle. But ripple has moved back above $2.00 in the European session bringing the altcoin ahead of Ethereum once again. Nevertheless, ether has attracted higher volumes over the past 24 hours, approximately equal to $5.2 billion, versus ripple’s $2.4 billion.

Ethereum’s price rise coincides with the release of the Alpha Casper FFG testnet, an ambitious move to proof of stake for the blockchain network to reduce energy costs, centralization and to overcome the obstacles to scaling that come with a proof of work system.