Ethereum Classic’s [ETC] +13% rally is fine, but the worrying sign is…

At press time, Ethereum’s estranged sibling Ethereum Classic [ETC] was trading at $23.75 after rallying by 7.34% in a day and 13.60% over the past week. This time last year, however, ETC was changing hands at slightly over $78. So, why does the latest rally have investors excited?

Jump on the ‘classic’ wagon

For starters, Ethereum Classic volumes surged as the asset’s price rallied this week. While still significantly down from past volumes recorded in mid-May 2022 and even before the December 2021 crashes, there was a definite uptick in trader interest. However, those hoping to sell the ETC they bought on the cheap likely helped put some selling pressure on the coin.

Apart from price and trade-related metrics, however, it’s key to note that ETC’s social dominance has also been on the rise.  While still far below the levels recorded near the asset’s all-time-highs before the May 2021 crash, this metric has been steadily rising since about mid-March 2022.

Community engagement and trader attention have the potential to help ETC as it continues to rally.

Bulls, bears, sharks, whales, ETC

TradingView’s Bollinger Bands indicator showed the bands narrowing ever so slightly, signalling that volatility could be lessening in the future.

Additionally, the Relative Volatility Index [RVI] recorded a value of over 50. This seemed to be a sign that future volatility could help take ETC’s price north.

However, a red candle was forming at press time.

Another worrying sign for the asset is that Ethereum Classic’s development activity is down. Development activity, at press time, was around a tenth of the levels recorded in March 2022.

As developers build on projects they think have long-term potential or might be profitable, the metric is a worrying sign for ETC, in spite of its rising price.

This would be an ideal time for the Ethereum Classic Twitter account to excite its followers and the wider crypto-audience. Alas, the official account’s last tweet was posted on 27 April.

https://twitter.com/eth_classic/status/1519257798491615232?cxt=HHwWgMCtleO6vpUqAAAA

With the post seeing less than 100 retweets at press time, this is not a sign of healthy community engagement.