Ether Price Rises Above $2K for First in Six Weeks

• The cryptocurrency traded at $2,004 at 07:30 UTC, the level last seen on Feb. 20, gaining 4% over the previous 24 hours, according to CoinDesk 20 data.
• The prices has rallied 18% this week in the wake of Visa's decision to facilitate crypto-based settlements on its network.
• In an announcement on Monday, the payments giant said it is working on a program to settle transactions in stablecoin USD Coin (USDC) over Ethereum with its partner Crypto.com.

• Ether's daily chart shows a symmetrical triangle breakout. The pattern indicates that the multi-week consolidation has ended, and the broader uptrend has resumed.
• The immediate resistance is seen at $2,036.55 – the record high reached on Feb. 21.
• The options market is making big bets on the second-largest cryptocurrency, as seen below.

• According to data tweeted by options analytics platform Genesis Volatility, traders are aggressively buying the $25,000 call option expiring on Dec. 31, 2021, listed on Deribit, the world's largest crypto options exchange by trading volumes and open interest.
• Seasonality favors a more substantial rally in ether than bitcoin over the near term.
• "Ether has outperformed bitcoin in every May till date," Timothy Peterson, an analyst at Cane Island Alternative Advisors, told CoinDesk in a Twitter chat.

Also read: This Ether Options Play by Institutions Has Lottery Ticket Potential