Bitcoin (BTC) jumped, but Ethereum (ETH) dropped at the start of the week, with a big event slated to have an effect on the cryptocurrency market in the next few days: the rollout of the Ethereum Merge.
The top cryptocurrency by market cap is currently trading at over $22,200, an almost 2% increase over the past 24 hours, as investors appear ready to take risks again. But it's a different story with Ethereum, the number two crypto, which recently took a 2% tumble to trade just below $1,700 on Monday and currently hovers around that range. Investors appear to be wary about the Merge, Ethereum's major upgrade from Proof-of-Work to Proof-of-Stake, that is scheduled for this Thursday.
It's possible that some traders are selling ETH based on the Merge hype, with a knock-on effect of driving Ethereum prices down while boosting BTC and the crypto market as a whole. While many altcoins were still struggling, there were noticeable surges in Solana (SOL) and Cosmos (ATOM), which jumped almost 25% after crypto research firm Delphi Digital transferred its R&D operations to the Cosmos ecosystem last week.
Bitcoin has been trading within a range of successive bear flags the year so far, so the recent upward move does not necessarily signal a bullish reversal. Positive signs to watch for include a daily high of over $25,000 or a breakout to the SMA 200 at $30,000 to signal a longer-term trend change. Keep an eye on Merge news, as high volatility is expected for ETH.
StormGain Analytics Team
(cryptocurrency trading, exchange and storage platform)
