What is driving the price of Ethereum (ETH) today?

The key takeaways

• Ether will be gaining the most since May 20, 2021.

• The rally is fueled by the upgrade of Ethereum to Pectra, a massive accumulation of whales, and an important short squeeze.

• As ETH bounces from key support, technical patterns indicate a possible 40% rally towards $3400.

EtherETHThe, which has risen over 37.50% since the end of the previous week (May 11), including 10.30% growth in the past 24 hours.

Pectra update boosts Ethereum with US tariff updates

Ether, and the wider crypto market have seen a positive sentiment boosted after the US-UK trade agreement was announced on May 8, and US-China talks were initiated shortly thereafter.

Ether also benefits from the ether’s Pectra upgrade On May 7, Ethereum was made easier to use and flexible with key enhancements like increased staking limitations and account abstraction (EIP-7702).

The upgrades have helped ETH to rise in price faster than other crypto markets. Ether is up 34.3% in the last month, outpacing the market with a total capitalization of 10.91%. 

BitcoinBTCEthereum, despite surpassing the symbol $100,000 mark has trailed in terms of percentage growth.

Ethereum Short squeeze increases ETH Price

The market for Ethereum Futures has seen a surge in price due to short liquidations. 

Since May 8, traders who bet against Ethereum were forced to liquidate their positions. $437.94 Million in short liquidations have been recorded. In addition, there have been long liquidations worth $211.29million. 

In order to offset their losses and keep the prices high, short-sellers had to buy ETH back to make up for any price increases.

At the same time, Ethereum’s open interest—the total value of outstanding futures contracts—has increased sharply from $21.28 billion on May 8 to $26.77 billion on May 10. 

In addition, Ethereum’s weekly funding rates rose during the period from 0.10% up to 0.15%.

The increase in open interest indicates that more traders are opening positions and entering the market. The higher funding rates show that traders are betting on price increases and willing to pay additional fees in order to maintain their positions.

These two indicators indicate that Ethereum futures traders are bullish.

Ethereum’s rally is preceded by mega-whale accumulation

Ether’s rallying price in recent days preceded a significant accumulation by its users. “mega-whales,” Wallets that hold more than 10,000 ETH. 

It is important to note that the word “you” means “the”. Glassnode chart The chart shows that the net change in position of mega-whales has flipped to a positive direction since late April. Whales have been steadily increasing their ETH positions.

The supply total held by large entities is at its highest point since March 20,25 and has surpassed 40.75 millions ETH.

Related: Ethereum Foundation distributed $32.6M grants to ecosystem in Q1

The accumulation of large investors suggests they are positioning themselves for future price increases, which will boost the confidence in the Ethereum market.

Ether’s main support bounce suggests $3,400

Ethereum’s monthly chart shows that the price of the cryptocurrency is rebounding off an ascending long-term support line, which forms the lower border of a large triangle pattern.

In the months to come, this bounce will increase the probability of moving towards the upper trendline in the triangle near $3,400. This would be an upward move by approximately 40% compared to current prices.

ETH rallies strongly every time it touches the support line, which reinforces Peter Brandt’s bullish view. analysis Predicts ETH Price to “moonshot” toward similar targets.

This article contains no investment recommendations or advice. Risk is inherent in every investment decision and trade. The reader should always do research prior to making a final decision.