Ethereum (ETH) is the second largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization in the world — although the distance between it and Bitcoin (BTC) is vast in absolute terms. Similarly, the performance of the two leading digital assets has differed substantially throughout 2024.
At press time, Bitcoin was trading at $96,044,00 — with year-to-date (YTD) gains standing at 127.15%. In contrast, Ethereum’s returns thus far have been twice as small, at 62.01% on a YTD basis. However, on December 4, ETH surpassed a critical threshold — reclaiming and shooting past its monthly open, with prices reaching levels slightly above the $3,800 mark for the first time since July.
Unlike Bitcoin, which had an extended period of sideways price action (at least by the standards of a cryptocurrency), ETH has seen significant volatility over the course of the year. As its larger competitor has stalled on its way to a $100,000 price point, alt season has taken off — but the long-awaited Ethereum surge was slow to materialize, with many investors worried about potential pullbacks
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Now that this critical level of resistance has been breached, the ongoing altcoin rally is likely going to see renewed and bolstered momentum — but the biggest question of all is how ETH, as the cryptocurrency best positioned to benefit from a shift away from BTC, will perform going forward.
Technical analysis suggests that the ETH rally has just started
Ethereum breached the $3,800 mark on strong volume, which has risen by 8.62% over the last 24 hours as of press time, lending credence to the stance that this is not a false breakout. In late November, Finbold covered the work of two expert technical analysts — Alan Santana and Rekt Capital.
Santana pointed out that weekly volume was at levels not seen since November of 2022, suggesting that, based on previous market cycles, price targets at $4,011, $5,800, $7,322, and ultimately $7,871 were warranted.
Rekt Capital, on the other hand, highlighted that the asset was printing a bullish flag chart pattern, which suggested that a previous resistance at $3,700 would be retested.
In a similar vein, trading expert CryptoBullet shared a long-term price chart that suggested that ETH is currently in the breakout phase of a long-term cup and handle pattern in an X post on December 2.
The current breakout could serve as final confirmation of the pattern’s validity. The analyst also set a target of $6,675, which is equivalent to the depth of the cup portion of the pattern added to the breakout point.
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