Markets Report: Ether price within $200 of all-time highs as $2,600 target emerges

Ether, the largest altcoin and native token of Ethereum, came within $200 of historical all-time highs on January 7, hitting $1,228 per coin.

Data from price trackers including CoinMarketCap and TradingView showed the strongest daily performance in three years for ETH/USD on Thursday.

The number one cryptocurrency by market cap behind Bitcoin, Ether has gone from strength to strength in recent weeks following the Dec. 1 release of the Ethereum 2.0 protocol upgrade. Year-to-date gains alone have topped 67%.

Like Bitcoin, Ether has thus become the leading investment opportunity of 2021, continuing its record from last year. In 2020 following its bottom during the March coronavirus crash, ETH/USD has in fact outperformed BTC/USD.

With cryptocurrency more broadly reentering mainstream consciousness, analysts and other market participants are thus turning their attention to new possibilities afforded by the large cap tokens.

For Raoul Pal, CEO and founder of Real Vision, Ether in particular represents a world of potential beyond Bitcoin. One of a series of tweets he released on Thursday reads:

“BTC = ETH. Fact. Different assets, different ecosystems, same adoption, same behavioral economics = same same but different…”

Pal, who is also a fan of embattled altcoin XRP, the fourth-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, invoked Metcalfe’s Law as proof that Ether is essentially copying Bitcoin’s rise to the top.

Governing network effects and how networks grow, the law is indicative of Ether’s trajectory, Pal argues.

“…It’s all just Metcalfe’s Law with a different narrative for each ecosystem,” he continued.

Fibonacci suggests $2,600 for ETH/USD

Within trading circles, excitement was also building on Thursday as ETH/USD edged closer to its all-time highs from 2018. According to data from exchange Bitstamp, these lie at $1,422.

“Might be a short-term top for the market in itself, but this overall momentum is great and I think it will just continue through 2021,” Michaël van de Poppe summarized to viewers during his latest dedicated YouTube update on Ether on Wednesday.

Analyzing the current situation, Van de Poppe said that while a consolidation period would be beneficial and in turn allow smaller altcoins to grow, a new all-time high for Ether is expected.

If this happens, Fibonacci methods will need to be used to divine likely tops, which focus on $1,700 and then $2,600.

“That is not unlikely given the fact that if you do some calculations and you’re going to discuss and project where Bitcoin is going to run through 2021 in the next impulse wave, you can actually derive these same targets,” he continued. 

As Modern Consensus reported, Bitcoin itself is showing no regard for bearish prognoses of a correction at present, with one all-time high following another, interspersed with periods of ranging. 

The knock-on effect for other altcoins is clearly visible, with even XRP, having lost 60% of its value over the past month, gaining 55% on Thursday alone to retarget $0.36.