Ethereum has put on a disappointing performance for its investors over the last few weeks, leading to concerns on whether the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap has lost its shine. The cryptocurrency continues to skirt around the $3,100 level, not making any significant breaks upward. This points to weak fundamentals that could trigger a price decline.

Ethereum Fails To Make Meaningful Moves

Markus Thielen, Head of Research at 10x Research, has pointed out some worrying developments with the Ethereum price. In a new report shared with NewsBTC, he explains that despite Ethereum remaining highly correlated to Bitcoin with an R-Square of 95%, it continues to perform poorly while the latter has made new all-time highs.

Thielen points back to ETH’s performance in the last bull market, which was closely tied to new sectors popping out of the network, such as decentralized finance (DeFi) and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). This caused demand to skyrocket, and in turn, the price followed as users gobbled up ETH for the high gas fee required to transact on the blockchain.

However, Ethereum has failed to maintain this momentum, which can be attributed to its inability to bring the upgrades that users needed in time. Thielen explains that the Dencun upgrade which helped solved the high gas fee issues had come three years too late because by 2024 when the upgrade arrived, users had moved on to Layer 2 networks. Also, during this time, other Layer 1 networks have seen a rise in users and Solana is one example of this.

Source: 10x Research

The researcher further explained that the weak fundamentals of ETH are now not only affecting its price but has had a spillover effect to Bitcoin. “Ethereum’s weak fundamentals are becoming a roadblock for Bitcoin as they prevent broad fiat inflow into the crypto ecosystem,” Thielen stated.

Better To Short ETH

Thielen’s analysis of Ethereum also spreads to the drop in stablecoin usage on the network. Back in 2021, Ethereum had dominated stablecoin transactions such as USDT and USDC. However, it seems like, with other things, the high fees have driven users towards other networks. Blockchains such as Tron (TRX) are now dominating stablecoin transactions, leaving ETH in the dust.

Additionally, there is also the fact that ETH’s issuance is turning inflationary once again. After the London Hard Fork, also known as EIP-1559, was completed in 2021, the network saw its issuance turn deflationary for the first time as ETH burned quickly surpassed ETH being brought into circulation.

However, this has now changed in the past months as there have been more ETH issued than those burned, Thielen notes. To put this in perspective, a total of 74,000 ETH were issued compared to only 43,000 ETH burned. This inflation, coupled with the fact that staking rewards have now dropped to 3%, below the 5.1% offered by Treasury Yields, Ethereum has had a hard time maintaining bullish sentiment.

Given these developments, the researcher believes it is better to be bearish on Ethereum right now. “Right now, we would be more comfortable holding a short position in ETH than a long one in BTC as Ethereum’s fundamentals are fragile, which is not yet reflected in ETH prices,” Thielen concludes.

ETH price fails to hold $3,100 | Source: ETHUSD on Tradingview.com

Featured image from Watcher Guru, chart from Tradingview.com

Disclaimer: The article is provided for educational purposes only. It does not represent the opinions of NewsBTC on whether to buy, sell or hold any investments and naturally investing carries risks. You are advised to conduct your own research before making any investment decisions. Use information provided on this website entirely at your own risk.

Shiba Inu has rebounded by over 19% from its $0.00002081 price point at the beginning of the month. Current price action shows the cryptocurrency might be on its way to performing an interesting price surge in the coming weeks. According to one crypto analyst, SHIB could actually go on a 120% price surge after breaking out of the current consolidation.

Crypto Analyst Says Massive Surge Coming

SHIB kickstarted a price correction immediately after reaching 0.00003556 in early March. Bullish investor sentiment surrounding the meme cryptocurrency at the time quickly changed into a bearish one. This pushed SHIB on a decline that bottomed out at $0.00002117 in the middle of April, indicating a 40% price correction in those two months. Interestingly, this was the worst SHIB price decline since the May 2022 collapse of the Terra ecosystem.

Related Reading: Why Did The Solana (SOL) Price Jump Today?

As noted on the 8-hour timeframe chart shared on social media platform X by crypto analyst World Of Charts,  SHIB has been on a consolidation channel for the past two months. However, the analyst foresees a bullish breakout to create a strong bullish wave that’s going to send SHIB holders on a profit margin between 100% and 120%.

$Shib

Consolidating In Bullish Flag In H8 Timeframe Incase Of Successful Breakout Expecting Solid Bullish Wave Expecting 100-120% Bullish Wave#Crypto #Shib pic.twitter.com/vfLClaexvu

— World Of Charts (@WorldOfCharts1) May 3, 2024

Interestingly, a further look into the chart shared by World Of Charts shows that the analyst is open to a higher price surge over a longer period of time. The last price target indicated on the chart is $0.00009500, which is a 280% target from the current price levels. 

Can Shiba Inu Push Higher?

Shiba Inu recently formed a higher low on the weekly timeframe, an indicator that the bulls might be starting to gain the upper hand. Despite the past decline, over 56% of SHIB holders remained in profit as many long-term holders opted to hold on to their tokens. At the time of writing, SHIB is trading at $0.00002489 and is up by 6.4% in the past seven days. This price increase has seen the number of SHIB holders in profit rising concurrently to 61%.

Related Reading: Bitcoin Relative Strength Jumps To 40%: 10x Research Reveals Next Steps From Here

Many addresses that just moved into profit margin are not taking profit indicating that majority of investors are anticipating a price increase in May. One catalyst that could lead to a further price increase is the recent partnership between PayPal and MoonPay which will allow PayPal users within the United States to buy the dog-themed cryptocurrency easily.

Popular crypto analyst Ali Martinez also predicted a SHIB price surge based on a bull flag that has recently appeared on the token’s price chart.

SHIB falls after brief recovery | Source: SHIBUSDT on Tradingview.com

Featured image from Times Tabloid, chart from Tradingview.com

Disclaimer: The article is provided for educational purposes only. It does not represent the opinions of NewsBTC on whether to buy, sell or hold any investments and naturally investing carries risks. You are advised to conduct your own research before making any investment decisions. Use information provided on this website entirely at your own risk.

A crypto analyst has predicted when Ethereum, the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency, will bottom against Bitcoin, however, under certain conditions. 

Analyst Predicts ETH/BTC Bottom Timeline

In a recent X (formerly Twitter) post, crypto analyst and founder of ITC Crypto, Benjamin Cowen, shared his forecast regarding the Ethereum to Bitcoin price ratio, projecting the timeline for when ETH/BTC would hit its lowest value in the current market cycle. 

Sharing insights on the market conditions, Cowen noted striking similarities between the present market’s dynamics and the one seen in 2019. He disclosed that ETH/BTC’s recent bounce mirrored the market’s behavior in 2019, two months before the Federal Reserve (FED) cut down rates. 

Cowen predicts that the ETH/BTC ratio will reach the lowest point in its price cycle when the FED makes a significant change in its monetary policy, often referred to as a “pivot.” The crypto expert expects this pivot to occur in a few months, ultimately suggesting that Ethereum would bottom against Bitcoin in the coming months. 

His analysis is also based on the assumption that macroeconomic conditions and the FED’s monetary policies can significantly impact the cryptocurrency market. Sharing a price chart of Ethereum against Bitcoin in another post, Cowen projected that the ETH/BTC ratio will head towards a range of 0.03 and 0.04 by summer. 

Commenting on his prediction of ETH/BTC’s bottom, a crypto community member expressed skepticism about the FED’s likelihood of cutting down rates while inflation was still high. Cowen responded that the absence of a rate cut further reinforced his beliefs that the ETH/BTC ratio has not yet reached its lowest point. He suggests that unless inflationary pressures are addressed, the ETH/BTC ratio may continue on its downward trend. 

Crypto Expert Calls Ethereum A Higher Risk Asset

In another post, Cowen referred to Ethereum as a higher-risk asset and Bitcoin as a lower-risk asset. The crypto analyst’s forecast on Ethereum against Bitcoin is underpinned by his interpretation of capital migration dynamics, suggesting that higher-risk assets typically depreciate relative to lower-risk assets.

He highlighted the uncertainty surrounding the future market movements of ETH/BTC following the halving event. Cowen predicted that if ETH/BTC witnesses a “relief rebound” after the halving, then he expects a rejection by the bull market support band, particularly in the context of weekly closing prices, estimated to range between $0.053 to $0.054. 

While acknowledging his past successes in predicting ETH/BTC price movements, Cowen highlighted that his predictions remain speculative, stating, “Just because I have been right so far about ETH/BTC does not mean I will continue being right.”

ETH bulls fail to hold $3,000 | Source: ETHUSDT on Tradingview.com

Featured image from Finbold, chart from Tradingview.com

Disclaimer: The article is provided for educational purposes only. It does not represent the opinions of NewsBTC on whether to buy, sell or hold any investments and naturally investing carries risks. You are advised to conduct your own research before making any investment decisions. Use information provided on this website entirely at your own risk.