The delay in the launch of the Holesky testnet has continued to have an impact on Ethereum’s price, which has fallen 1% in the last hour and 2% over the last 24 hours.
Even while the market as a whole is down today, ETH appears to be more negatively impacted than many other significant cryptocurrencies, with the cryptocurrency down 1.7% in the past week and 4% in the past month, to reach $1,591.
However, ETH has also increased by 33% since the start of the year, and given that its fundamentals are still strong, it is likely to recover over the next few days and weeks.
The 200-weekly Exponential Moving Average (EMA), which may have served as bull market support, is about to be rejected by Ethereum. Price dropping below this support level is now being met with resistance, which is pushing buyers into the $1,600 area.
Bulls were in control as the price recently moved above the 200-week EMA (purple) at $1,625 to $1,650. Bulls need to form some sort of a barrier or slow their pace now that the level is acting as resistance to prevent a wider sell-off.
ETH price 5-day chart. Source: Trading View
ETH price falling below the $1,600 immediate support level might push prices back to March-era highs for a second time in September. The upswing was halted last week when the price of Ethereum rallied from $1,530 but lost momentum around $1,650.
This week, Grayscale Investments gained attention for submitting a request to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for the purpose of offering an exchange-traded fund (ETF) based on ETH futures. This is Grayscale’s second application for an ETH futures ETF as the company looks to improve its prospects of being approved by the regulator. It might provide a much needed impetus to ETH and may help the cause of bulls in the medium to long term.
As per data from Glassnode, investor holdings of more than 1,000 ETH have clearly been declining, despite Ether’s notable price gain since the beginning of 2023. ETH wallet addresses are at a 5-year low (6082 ETH addresses currently) for the total number of ETH addresses holding 1,000 or more ETH.
In 2023, the price of Ethereum has increased by 36% year-to-date in terms of U.S. dollars. However, ETH is presently trading 66% below its November 2021 record of $4,870.
An Ethereum address linked to the ICO allotment made its first transaction on September 20 by sending 32.1 ETH (worth $52,000 at the time) directly to Coinbase. Since there are no obvious motivations for addresses that have been inactive for four to eight years to sell at this particular stage of the market cycle, this additional movement has further heightened investors’ worries.
Until a market-changing event like the approval of the futures ETF, the price of ETH may struggle to maintain the climb and pullbacks may become more frequent.
Disclaimer: This article was created for informational purposes only and should not be taken as investment advice. An asset’s past performance does not predict its future returns. Before making an investment, please conduct your own research, as digital assets like cryptocurrencies are highly risky and volatile financial instruments.