In what is more good news for the crypto-ecosystem, Ethereum, the world’s largest altcoin, surged past yet another milestone on the price charts, with ETH breaching the $1,800-mark to post a new ATH. Corresponding to the price hike, ETH’s market cap also exceeded $200 billion for the first time recently. It should be noted, however, that the cryptocurrency has been on a sustained uptrend since the year 2021 dawned.
Source: ETH/USD on TradingView
In fact, since breaching its 2018-ATH at $1,448, the crypto-asset has been undergoing price discovery on the charts. Interestingly, ETH’s performance came on the heels of Bitcoin itself doubling its value after its own breach of its 2017-ATH.
ETH Options outperformed BTC Options in January 2021
The interest in Ethereum has accrued from the derivatives markets as well, with 3,529,404 ETH Options contracts being traded in January 2021. In fact, the contracts were up by 18% from December 2020.
Source: Deribit
The total turnover was close to $96 billion (BTC, ETH combined). The increasing interest in the ETH market was also observed in terms of Open Interest. In January 2021, ETH OI jumped from $800 million to a whopping $1.8 billion, exhibiting a growth of nearly 130%.
Ethereum 2.0 and CME ETH Futures – Will the price appreciate more?
When we talk about the popularity of staking within Ethereum 2.0, the statistics speak for themselves. According to Glassnode, the total Ether staked in Ethereum 2.0 network recently crossed the $5 billion-mark, with the same doing so in a very short period of time.
Here, it is important to note that the validators who have staked their Ether in ETH 2.0 will be able to recover their assets only after Phase 2 is launched, which is at least another year into development. Such sentiments highlight long-term trust in the development of ETH 2.0, with the crypto likely to see an improved monetary policy with EIP-1559 as well.
When it comes to institutional capital inflows, it is still early days since Bitcoin absorbs most of the attention from accredited investors. The launch of CME Ethereum Futures is a bright beginning, but it may take a little while before we see constructive institutional interest in Ethereum.
At press time, Ethereum was valued at $1,801, with the next target at $2,000 well within the realm of ETH’s bullish momentum.
