There has been talk of the “flippening” for a while, but will this summer finally see ETH overtake BTC?
Bitcoin may be the biggest token in the cryptocurrency space, but Ethereum is definitely giving the market leader a run for its money. The two are often mentioned concurrently nowadays, and Ethereum has comfortably established itself as the second-biggest cryptocurrency in terms of market penetration and capitalisation.
This has made Ethereum popular when it comes to trading, so in this article we will assess the price prospects of Ethereum in the 2021 market.
Current Ethereum Price
Ethereum has enjoyed an unbelievably favourable trading period, having increased in value over 10-fold at its peak over the previous 12 months. However, the cryptocurrency has also experienced a correction recently, which means that it has been operating in something of a micro-bear market over the last few months.
At the time of writing, the price of Ethereum is just over $2,600, which represents an absolutely massive increase over its trading price one year ago of just under $250. So successful has Ethereum been in recent months that its market capitalisation has closed the gap significantly on Bitcoin, now being valued at half of that of the market leader. Its volume of trading is now nearly identical to Bitcoin.
Ethereum has benefited due to inflows of finance into its decentralised ecosystem. Ethereum is the most preferred platform by DeFi developers, and this should be a massive positive for the coin going forward.
Source: Coinbase
Ethereum Price Forecast
Technical analysis of Ethereum suggests that the altcoin may have entered into a bullish pattern. A hammer candlestick on the 12-hour ETH chart has initiated recently, and technical analysts believe that this means Ethereum may be ready to begin its latest increase in value.
If this rally continues, we can expect the Ethereum price to escalate to approximately $3,000 in the foreseeable future. Many market analysts have predicted this as a possible resistance point for the token, as it begins its steady climb back to its peak value.
It is also notable that the number of active addresses involved in Ethereum transactions declined by around 30% in recent weeks. This does suggest a decline in trading that may not be entirely positive for Ethereum, even though its price has bounced back recently.
But there are other societal factors that could impact the value of Ethereum as well. The recovery from the Covid pandemic is far from certain, and this will undoubtedly have a market impact on cryptocurrencies in general. Ethereum definitely benefited from the testing financial climate that existed in 2020, and while there has been something of a recovery, the path ahead remains uncertain.
This should be bullish for cryptocurrencies generally, and Ethereum is likely to be one of the biggest recipients thanks to its exalted status.
The Sentiment Market Value / Realized Value, a metric that measures whether commodities are undervalued or overvalued, also indicates that Ethereum may be due to rise once more. As institutional money begins to flow back into this token, we will likely see an increase in the price of Ethereum before the end of 2021.
Ethereum Price Discovery in June
Any investor looking to trade cryptocurrencies must accept that the market is somewhat more volatile than many traditional trading platforms. This is one of the reasons that cryptocurrencies have generated massive headlines; the journey of those investing in cryptocurrencies has been quite dramatic at times.
Source: Coinbase
This has led to huge increases in the value of cryptocurrencies, and also to significant corrections. And both have occurred during 2020 and 2021! We firstly witnessed one of the most exciting bull markets in the history of cryptocurrency, with both Ethereum and Bitcoin reaching unheralded highs.
However, there has been a correction in Ethereum in recent weeks, with over $1 trillion wiped from the total cryptocurrency market. Nonetheless, market observers suggest that this will be a temporary scenario, and that major cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum will begin to incline in value again in the foreseeable future.
Indeed, one of the biggest positives for Ethereum is that the Wall Street investment bank Goldman Sachs believes that the token could eventually overtake Bitcoin. A leaked report from the financial institution indicated that Ethereum has a “high chance” of overtaking bitcoin as a “dominant” store of value; reflecting the extent to which Ethereum has closed the gap recently.
Macro investor Raoul Pal believes that institutional players are re-allocating into ETH from Bitcoin, and expects Ether to lead the crypto market’s recovery. A leaked paper from Bloomberg also predicts that Ethereum will “flip” Bitcoin’s market cap this summer.
And ETH looks stronger still. Doesn't feel like the ETH/BTC ratio is ready to go lower yet. Expect ETH to lead the way out… pic.twitter.com/kATnY68zdC
— Raoul Pal (@RaoulGMI) May 17, 2021
Undoubtedly, the negative media headlines that Bitcoin generated regarding the electricity used in order to maintain its mining will definitely have had a major impact on the currency. This could be an opportunity for Ethereum to increase in an even more exponential fashion than has been possible previously.
It is certainly exciting for Ethereum that mainstream financial institutions are now taking cryptocurrencies seriously. Decentralised finance has become a vast market, and new innovations are appearing on an almost monthly basis. The fact that Ethereum is a major platform for non-fungible tokens was cited by Goldman Sachs as being particularly important: “The Ethereum ecosystem supports smart contracts and provides a way to create new applications on its platform,” also noting that more decentralised finance applications are built on the Ethereum network than any other blockchain.
Overall, the outlook for Ethereum is extremely positive, and it wouldn’t be at all surprising if June was the month when it began its ascent to new highs. A target of $3,000 for the month’s end seems very reasonable, while a new high could even be set if a recovery happens quickly. $10,000 remains the macro target for this cycle in the eyes of most experts.
Please note, the above is a purely opinion-based piece, based on relevant data available. It should not be deemed as direct investment advice.