The much anticipated Ethereum (ETH) upgrade, called "Merge," will happen on September 15th. This new update will pave the way for many exciting future updates and developments in cryptocurrency. The ETH price is on a rollercoaster ride leading up to the Merge upgrade.
In just the last few weeks, more and more people have been staking their Ethereum to grow the ETH coin exponentially. According to crypto journalist Colin Wu who cited data from OKLink, the number of Ethereum 2.0 deposit contract addresses has reached 13,343 768, and the stake rate exceeded by 11%. Each week showcases over 36,000 ETHs added to the network and 153,000 new stakers since August.
The price of Ethereum hit a weekly low last week at $1,525. This is not surprising considering there have been many bearish trends lately, and the market capitalization has decreased by more than 50% in less than six months.
Since then, ETH has recovered partially. ETH is currently trading at $1,600, with its market cap slightly dipping below the $200 billion mark. The current price of Ethereum (ETH) is 20% lower than it was this time last week.
Ethereum has seen a downturn in on-chain activity over the last three months, but many people still think this could be just what Ethereum needs to get back up again. The decline of interest in Defi and NFTs is one reason this is happening.
Data from IntoTheBlock shows that ETH gas fees have dropped significantly over the past few months. As you can see, the Ethereum network has been experiencing a sharp decline in activity.
As the Ethereum network activity has diminished, the pressure on its burning rate has increased. Since the EIP-1559 was implemented last month, nearly 241K ETH has been burned in the past 90 days.
The price of Ether dipped below the 20-day EMA on August 21, which is not a good sign for its recovery. The important level to watch on the downside is $1,700 as it had acted as strong support between Aug 6 and 10.
If prices continue on their upward trajectory, there is a good chance that they will break through the $1,7000 barrier and find resistance at an even higher level of $1,960 and later at $2,030. A break above this level could signal that the uptrend has resumed.
But if the price breaks and sustains below $1,700, it will suggest traders who may have purchased at lower levels are aggressively closing their positions. With support at 50-day SMA, this market could go down toward $1,519.
Disclaimer: The author's comments and recommendations are solely for educational and informative purposes. They do not represent any financial or investment advice. Always DYOR (do your own research)