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The Altcoin Evolution – Part III: The Challenges – Use Case & Value

In the last episode of “Altcoin Evolution”, we discussed hurdles that can prevent more casual crypto investors from acquiring some of the more obscure altcoins. Obviously, accessibility to investment is paramount to getting in the hands of consumers, and for projects to continue their own ‘evolution’. Despite continued market-wide shifts to make crypto more easily accessible, the road is still long and tumultuous.

 

Another “crypto-winter” is never out of the question, and how broader society at large adapts to digital currencies is still yet to be determined. Still, the potential hazards are flanked by the vast amount of potential upside with the developing tech and consistent emerging projects in the space.

The Altcoin Evolution: You’ve Got Questions, We’ve Got… More Questions?

Beyond last week’s coverage around accessibility, another variable arises in crypto from attaching tangible function to different coins. The questions are practically endless: What is the purpose of the project and token? How does it integrate into our current financial industry (or into other industries such as art and culture, or information systems)? Does the project have its own form of blockchain, or is it operating on one of the larger, more established arenas? Unique value propositions are paramount in any project, and these could include any number of things that can be derived from any of these questions.

 

Some coins are designed with specific usages in mind, often on existing blockchains, and are typically referred to as “utility tokens”. Let’s elaborate further: tokens generally break down into one of two buckets – utility tokens or security tokens. The differentiator between the two has by and large been established as the SEC’s Howey Test, which historically has been used to define a securities contract. Utility tokens are predominantly providing consumers with a product or service, rather than being seen as a traditional investment vehicle. Security tokens’ value proposition is typically pretty straight-forward, however things are not typically as clear with utility tokens in today’s landscape.

 

A majority of these tokens, especially around the NFT space (which we’ve regularly turned to throughout this series), are currently working on the Ethereum blockchain. This applies to ECOMI (and it’s OMI token), as well as some of the original projects on Flow that existed before the FLOW token (such as CryptoKitties), both of which are referenced in earlier installments of this series. These were designed with the concept of providing access to goods/services, such as NFT collectibles, creating an economy based around exchange of the coin. In essence, a marketplace functioning sans fiat currency.

ECOMI is built on the back on the backbone of the Ethereum network. | Source: OMI-USDT on TradingView.com

Related Reading | Bitcoin Poised To Explode Above $50K?, Why Fundamentals Shout More Profits

Is It, Or Isn’t It?

Of course, the lines between utility are often far from being black and white. Some NFT critics suggest that for the likes of NBA Top Shot, Topps MLB, or ECOMI, IP integration won’t be enough to carry the load. Critics of other NFT projects, like CryptoPunks or Bored Ape Yacht Club, often argue that the communities generated from this projects won’t have staying power (despite prices for CryptoPunks being as high as ever, approaching year five of the project).

 

Furthermore, while emerging and established NFT projects make for prime examples in this conversation, these criticisms don’t start or finish with NFTs. For many years now, the biggest Cardano (ADA) critics have furrowed their brow that the utility and use case around the coin was not clear and well-defined. Despite this, Cardano is the third largest cryptocurrency by market cap. Talk about an altcoin evolution.

 

Our objective here isn’t to make an argument for or against any of these projects, but only to emphasize that dialogue in the crypto-community around utility is ever-present. After all, the value of IP is often arbitrarily assigned even in contexts outside of crypto.

Don’t Stop Now… It’s More Than IP

Furthermore, utility of course doesn’t stop or start with just IP either. Writer and founder Zoe Scaman outlined her recent perspective of “five key components of a crypto-native, fandom-centric brand”. The core components include Worldbuilding & Narrative, Cultivating Community, Status & Access, Open IP, and Shared Equity. These traits undoubtedly outline “value”, but the measuring stick is as unclear as ever. The bearish perspective would likely suggest that even these core components aren’t enough for true longevity, while the bullish perspective would state that these qualities can build NFT projects that will last a lifetime. Like many things in life, the reality likely lands somewhere in the middle of it all. 

 

In all, the concept and evolution of utility coins is still relatively new and fresh – even when compared to the phenomenon of digital currency as a whole. The wild west is an apt metaphor for the developing landscape of purpose driven coins. However, as society’s reliance on digital innovation continues to gain ground, so does the opportunity for crypto projects to find more platforms to exercise use case.

 

A prime example just this week was the decision-making at OnlyFans, as reported on at our sister network at Bitcoinist. As the site reportedly tightens down on adult content, the need for a decentralized, creator-first platform becomes abundantly clear. Many have speculated that some sort of crypto solution, such as the Bitcoin Lightning Network, could fill the void.

 

As DeFi and other use-case driven crypto projects inevitably move forward, there will be even more utility opportunities and functionality needs. The difficult part is valuing them. For emerging tokens and projects, demonstrating the problem and how the project addresses the problem, is vital.

 

In next week’s “Altcoin Evolution,” we’ll take a look at the final set of challenges – ‘selling’ a project or token to the general public and what it takes for crypto projects to stand out.

Related Reading | These Ethereum Indicators Show Whales Continue To Accumulate

Charts from TradingView.com, Image courtesy Jerry Sena

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Bitcoin Dominance Down As Market Hits $2 Trillion, Altcoins Are Taking Over

Bitcoin market dominance continues to decline as the markets make their way back up the charts. The top cryptocurrency has seen its market share consistently dropping as investors get interested in altcoins. Over the five years since it has been in operation, Ethereum now has a bit under half the market dominance of the digital asset. This has translated to altcoins like Ethereum rallying despite what direction the price of bitcoin is headed.

Now, once again, as is the same with all bull markets, the altcoins are breaking away from the influence of bitcoin. As the bull rally continues to rage on, alts are creeping up to steal more market share for themselves. Just this year alone, BTC has lost over 30% of market dominance. Starting out the year in the 73% range, to where it now sits at 44.13%.

BTC market cap dominance down to 44% | Source: Market Cap BTC Dominance on TradingView.com

Related Reading | Crypto Market Cap Inches Closer To $2 Trillion, What To Expect From The Market

Although BTC continues to have the highest market cap of all, alts are seeing increasing numbers. Ethereum’s market cap has seen another upward trend that is sending the asset’s total market cap towards $400 billion. Coming hot on the heels of the London Hard Fork that brought increased interest into the asset.

Total Market Cap Hits $2 Trillion

The crypto total market cap took a severe beating down three months back when it crashed down from its all-time high of $2.4 trillion. Spending the last three months in a perpetual state of sluggish movement that looked to be the beginning of a brutal bear market.

Total crypto market cap hits $2 trillion for the first time in months | Source: Crypto Total Market Cap on TradingView.com

A bounce back in the prices of cryptocurrencies all across the market has seen the market cap recover. Breaking the $2 trillion mark for the first time since the crash and now, indicators show that the market could be on its way to breaking the record high. The rebound in the crypto market cap has now seen renewed interest in the market.

Bitcoin and altcoins alike have rallied in the past couple of weeks, leading to a breaking of $2 trillion. More projects are fueling the interest of their investors.  Projects like Cardano and Ethereum continue to be top of mind in the market. Their continued dedication to making their network optimal drives continued faith in the market.

Altcoins Will Rally With Or Without Bitcoin

The market dominance of BTC shows that altcoins are on their way to being completely independent of what is happening to the top crypto. Prices of cryptocurrencies have historically always rallied behind bitcoin. But it seems that that era is coming to an end.

Related Reading | Why A Shocking Altcoin Season Could Be On The Horizon

Soon, some altcoins will have taken enough market share from bitcoin to put them on almost equal footing. This will mean that the prices of these alts with high market dominance will also determine the direction of the market, regardless of what direction BTC is facing.

This is why “alts season” is a popular saying in the market. Every time altcoins take market share from the top cryptocurrency, the market sees a rally in the prices of alts. Whereas at the same time, the price of bitcoin could be stagnant or even be experiencing a downward trend while alts record massive gains.

Featured image from Personal Financial, charts from TradingView.com

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The Altcoin Evolution – Part II:

Last week we introduced ‘Altcoin Evolution’, NewsBTC’s latest series discussing the market-wide challenges that altcoins face in coming to market. We’ll take a look at a bird’s eye view of a number of different challenges that altcoins face in the general market, starting first with accessibility. 

 

Our framework in outlining these challenges will generally be presented from a U.S. consumers point of view, as some of the exchanges, projects, etc. may not be accessible yet globally – which speaks to the very nature of the topic at hand. We’ll also be looking at these processes and challenges through the lens of a very casual to intermediate crypto consumer – one who has a solid understanding of the broader landscape, but not necessarily the deep depth of more advanced crypto-native consumers.

Nailing Down The Challenges: Making A Purchase

Undoubtedly the most difficult challenge for emerging projects – those like ECOMI (which we mentioned in last week’s ‘Altcoin Evolution’), or Dapper Labs FLOW token (from the creators of NBA Top Shot), is accessibility. FLOW and OMI tokens typically sit somewhere around the top 100 in market cap, making them big enough to be on the radar but not a substantial threat to become an immediate top 20 token. 

 

Let’s look at the very basics of securing these type of assets. Acquiring the OMI coin, for example, involves setting up an account on Bitforex, Gate.io, or OKEx, all of which are generally lesser known crypto exchanges relative to the mainstream players such as Crypto.com, Binance, Coinbase, FTX, etc. 

 

Our team took the step-by-step process of buying some OMI tokens to compare it to the major exchanges that more casual consumers are frequenting. We utilized Bitforex in this case, due to it’s reliable crypto reputation and ability to offer a generally wider array of altcoins than many exchanges, with over 150 tokens supported. We chose XLM to transfer funds to the Bitforex account to take advantage of lower transfer fees compared to many other major tokens (fees can vary widely amongst different currencies, so it will be wise to do some research as to how to minimize costs when looking at acquiring your desired token).

 

Certain cryptocurrencies, such as XLM, may require more info than a typical wallet QR code as well. If a TAG/MEMO is supplied, it must be used in order to prevent delays, or even potential loss of transfer funds. You could consider the TAG/MEMO line as an apartment number, whereas the QR code is acting as the apartment building. 

 

One difference here compared to the Coinbase trading process, for example, is that you must first transfer your funds from your Bitforex wallet to a spot/trading account on Bitforex, which allows for instantaneous exchanges on the platform. The next step required that we exchange XLM tokens to Tether, the dollar-pegged stablecoin USDT. After that conversion was complete, we were able to purchase the OMI coin.

 

As you can see, relative to many of the streamlined purchasing processes that are headlining the mainstream markets, there are a few more hoops to jump through. These extra steps often not seen with simple BTC or ETH purchases on more popular exchanges can impose underrated limitations on potential investors acquiring tokens – be it OMI or otherwise. 

 

At its core, casual consumers are less likely to put in the legwork of learning about the process if they aren’t already familiar. 

Prominent altcoin FLOW is leveraging premier partners to increase awareness, but the token will need more exchange support to increase consumer accessibility. | Source: FLOW-USD on TradingView.com

Related Reading | Bitcoin Stuck In The Clouds, But Brighter Days Could Be Ahead

The Next ‘Accessible’ Step: How Altcoin Projects Can Appease Major Exchanges

As crypto has gained it’s legitimacy over the years, with that has come policy frameworks for major exchanges in how they go about supporting new tokens. 

 

Let’s look at major crypto exchange Coinbase. The company has historically implemented a core set of standards for crypto asset issuers – centered around conformity to Coinbase core values, technology, compliance, market supply, market demand, and crypto-economics. In January, however, the company introduced the Coinbase Asset Hub.

 

Just a short time later, in early May, Coinbase posted a guide to listing assets on the exchange on their blog page. Major sticking points that were called out in the blog included source code adherence to industry standards, the degree of centralization (which can dictate the amount of collusion that is possible within the project), and carrying a real and supportable use case (more on this on our next section of ‘Altcoin Evolution’). 

 

Despite this, Coinbase is still looking to streamline the asset listing process even further, too. In a blog post in June, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong cited one of three main opportunities for the firm as bringing “more assets to Coinbase, faster.” That message came as the firm announced plans to launch to a DeFi ‘crypto app store’.

 

Despite these uphill battles around accessibility, the future generally seems to be bright for emerging projects that are looking to increase their exposure. As the broader crypto space grows and matures, exchanges look to streamline their processes – legitimate projects will likely be given the platforms needed to rise to the top. 

 

On next week’s ‘Altcoin Evolution,’ we will review one of those major sticking points that Coinbase calls out in their listing asset guide – use case and value. We’ll look at the importance of these traits and how projects can showcase them. 

 

See you next week!

Related Reading | Polygon Acquires Hermez Network, How They Will Improve Ethereum Scaling Solutions

Charts from TradingView.com, Image courtesy Jerry Sena

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Why A Shocking Altcoin Season Could Be On The Horizon

Altcoin season is a phrase that is quite popular throughout the crypto market. The phrase refers to the run-up in the prices of altcoins after the price of bitcoin slows down. The altcoins usually see an uptick in their individual and collective market dominance, taking even more market share from the top cryptocurrency, bitcoin.

As the coins become more valuable, their prices soar following the increased market share. An altcoin season usually sees most of the altcoins in the market rallying at the same time. With Ethereum’s price mostly leading the charge once the prices start surging.

Related Reading | Here’s What Happens To All Of The Crypto Assets The IRS Seizes

At this point, altcoin prices are no longer following the price of bitcoin as they usually do in the market. Altcoins break away from bitcoin for a period of time and their prices move independently of the cop coin. Now, indications are pointing that an altcoin season is on the horizon. Movement on the charts point to the possibility of this following the current bull rally.

Bitcoin Market Dominance Continues To Decline

Bitcoin has held a majority share of the market dominance for the longest time. Over the years, this market dominance has seen a declining trend as coins like Ethereum gained more popularity amongst investors in the market. From an over 95% dominance, BTC dominance has gone down over the years to now sit at less than 50%.

Bitcoin market dominance continues to decline | Source: Market Cap BTC Dominance from TradingView.com

Ethereum continues to steal more market share from the pioneer cryptocurrency following each bull market.  Steadily trailing behind bitcoin. Altcoins now collectively have over 50% of market dominance, which puts them in a significant position to start growing their prices on their own terms. Instead of being eternally connected to the price movements of BTC.

Ethereum alone now has over 20% of market dominance, a little less than half of what bitcoin has. Bitcoin market dominance has shown declining trends presently, and this puts alts in a position to see an uptick in their market prices, regardless of what direction the price of bitcoin takes.

Related Reading | Bitcoin Accumulation Patterns Shows Rally Might Only Be In Its Early Stages

Indicators like a broken rising wedge show that bitcoin’s current market dominance is headed for another retest. After this retest will most likely come a decline in the dominance percentage. Giving way for altcoins to take more market share from bitcoin. And as bitcoin continues to move in a perfect downtrend, alts are set to explode following this.

Altcoins On A Run-Up

Altcoins have so far continued to do well in the market. The recent rally hasn’t been limited to bitcoin alone. Alts all across the market continue to record massive gains on a daily. With some coins recording as much as a 15% price uptick in 24-hour periods as the rally rages on.

Related Reading | Ethereum Set To Explode According To Market Dominance, Crypto Analyst

Increase alt dominance in the market will see alts prices continue to go up even way past when the price of BTC has lost momentum. Investors are always looking for the next big thing and it usually seems to most that they have missed the boat on bitcoin. Hence, they tend to focus on alts in order to find the next coin that will give the same returns bitcoin has given.

This interest in the search for the next bitcoin has been one of the driving forces behind the high values of a lot of altcoins. Also, interesting technologies being built to back up altcoins emerging into the market sees investors putting money into these projects because of the promise of the technologies.

Featured image from Vecteezy, chart from TradingView.com

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The Altcoin Evolution – Part I: Introduction

Mainstream adoption for emerging altcoin projects is a constant topic within the crypto community that might be a conversation that exists in perpetuity. Most notably because the idea of “adoption” in crypto isn’t tangible or measurable. What does mainstream success look like, and how does it fit with crypto’s inherently decentralized nature? It’s a long road to travel for altcoins to find success in the current landscape. This new series will take a look at some of the primary hurdles that altcoins face today.

Emerging Projects: Overcoming Challenges

Throughout this series we’ll be thinking about small-cap, yet to emerge coins. BTC and ETH have gone full-fledged mainstream, and now there have been a fairly abundant amount of emerging cryptocurrencies that have clawed their way to the most ‘accessible’ exchanges, such as Coinbase, Binance, etc. Accordingly, the so-called “Coinbase effect” in crypto is very much a real thing, and there are some obvious reasons for that: most notably, wide stream visibility and accessibility. This is exemplified by crypto rumors of an altcoin being listed to Coinbase leading to immediate jumps in price as aggressive traders look to “beat the Coinbase hype”. 

 

However, there are also a wide array of crypto projects headed down different roads, all vying for that next step opportunity as well. As with most things in finance, there are no shortage of hurdles for all of these prospective risers. That being said, there are a few options that have potential to make large runs toward ‘mainstream’ acceptance. ECOMI, for instance, is establishing mainstream IP NFT partnerships with major entertainment properties like Marvel, Activision, Capcom, and more. However, while the NFT space has seen exponential growth this year, it is still relatively unknown to the average layman.

 

Despite more and more integration into traditional finance atmospheres, there is still a long road to travel for the development of altcoins into the mainstream financial consumer. Accordingly, ECOMI’s native token, OMI, is substantially more difficult to acquire than your run-of-the-mill projects that dominate the headlines. This series will take a dive into how legitimate crypto projects can work their way into more mainstream acceptance. We’ll also look at some of the inherent challenges and hurdles that projects have to overcome. 

 

As the market continues to grow, NFT digital collectibles are becoming a source of revenue for musicians, artists, and even sports teams and leagues (most notably projects like NBA Topshot). This increase in distribution shows promise to continue the push of this NFT phenomenon front and center in the eyes of the general public, and more importantly, potential investors. Throughout this series, we’ll often look at NFT projects, such as ECOMI’s, as prime examples in addressing the unique roadblocks that crypto projects often face. 

The ‘Altcoin Evolution’ series will look at altcoins such as OMI as examples for projects that are looking to grab mainstream market share. | Source: OMI-USDT on TradingView.com

Related Reading | Bitcoin Nears $43K, Indicators Suggest Bull Market Ahead

It’s Not Always Easy

Despite having the aforementioned partnerships with strong IP properties, the OMI token has a market cap that barely cracks into the top 100 of crypto tokens on the market, despite being a unique project in the marketplace when it comes to established partnerships relative to the competition. Although the token is difficult to acquire currently relative to many comparable projects, this may actually be a benefit to potential investors seeking to find the next hot thing at the ground floor. If the platform continues to proliferate content creators with established brands, there may be an opportunity to become an early adopter of digital collectibles.

 

Volatile, lower-cap assets are of course, immeasurably difficult when it comes to trajectory projections. These coins not only are subject to the upcoming (and ongoing) regulation changes and economic uncertainty (to an increased extent relative to the major tokens on the market, at that), but also have yet to prove true long-term stability, or growth capability. Another cliche most certainly applies here, as this is certainly positioned in the broader crypto market as a high risk, high reward play for potential investors.  

 

Additionally, if the casual consumer is interested in ECOMI’s project, and wants to acquire OMI tokens, like many emerging projects – there are substantial market barriers in doing so. While market barriers have been slowly streamlined to the everyday consumer since the early days of crypto, there is likely still miles of roadway left to go when it comes to a truly streamlined process for established, yet emerging projects. The OMI coin does already have actual utility on the VEVE marketplace, where it is the currency of choice. VEVE is an NFT digital collector’s space/auction site, where users exchange digital collectibles. This is where those corporate connections make OMI uniquely placed to have tangible function going forward. Users of the VEVE marketplace are exchanging fiat currency to OMI in order to purchase collectibles, often without even knowing that the OMI coin is involved, which provides another glimpse into the potential utility of the coin going forward. This can be likened to the experience on NBA Top Shot as well, where users are buying, selling, and even gifting NFTs on the FLOW blockchain, all without any sort of interaction with the FLOW token itself. 

 

This will be the framework for the ‘Altcoin Evolution’ series. Next week, we will break down our first initial challenge for altcoins – accessibility for more casual consumers. For the next several weeks, we will break down a number of different challenges before finally wrapping the series up with a closing summary that outlines these challenges in full, and how emerging altcoin projects can address them.

 

Stay tuned, and we’ll see you next week!

Related Reading | New SEC Regulations Add Cryptocurrency Under Security-Based Swap Rules

Featured image from Pixabay, Charts from TradingView.com

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Crypto Bloodbath, $350 Billion In Market Cap Gone In 48 Hours

Bitcoin and altcoins alike, the entire crypto space takes a beating, losing $350 billion in market cap in just 48 hours.

As a result, the market cap is just around 1.2 trillion today, the lowest it has been since the start of the year.

Bitcoin price dropped below $30k due to the fud caused by China‘s recent crypto crackdown movements. As it usually is the case, the other coins also dipped in response to that.

Altcoins Suffer Double Digit Losses

The crash seems to have hit the alternative coins pretty hard as all the major ones seem to be in the red by double digit percentages.

Here is a chart on Quantify Crypto that shows all the major cryptocurrencies with their daily changes in value as of Tuesday:

The entire crypto market is shook | Source: Cryptocurrency Price Heatmap on Qunatify Crypto

Ethereum (ETH) is down almost 12% to $1753. Only a week ago, ETH was above $2600.

The third largest coin by market cap is Binance Coin (BNB), and it’s floating around $237 right now. Thus, it has fallen off by 23%.

Dogecoin (DOGE) has suffered a loss of 25%, one of the biggest decrease on the map. It has gone down to about $0.17.

Here is a quick rundown of the other major altcoins:

Cardano (-21%), XRP (-23%), Polkadot (-22%), Uniswap (-18%), Bitcoin Cash (-18%), Litecoin (-19%), and ChainLink (-18%).

During the $350 billion market cap drop in the past couple of days, Bitcoin actually gained more dominance with an increase of about 1.28% in the last 24 hours.

Related Reading | Coinbase Pro To List Shiba Inu, The “Dogecoin Killer” Price Soars

Over the last 7 days, however, BTC has dropped in market cap by about 18%.

Bitcoin Price

Bitcoin’s price has dropped below $30k for the first time since January. This means it has lost over 9% in value over the past 24 hours.

Also, it’s year-to-date return has fallen down to just 3%, when only yesterday it was riding over 10%.

Here is how its market cap has changed over the period of a few months:

BTC's market value fluctuations since February 2021 | Source: Market Cap BTC on TradingView

The latest Bitcoin crash came after China’s continued attempts at shutting down major mining hubs around the country.

As a lot of the Bitcoin hashrate resides on China, the movements of the BTC owned by miners caused a domino effect on the entire market.

Related Reading | Microstrategy Buys Another $489 Million Worth Of Bitcoin

Altcoins followed from there and their value fell as well. The effect on the total global cryptocurrency market cap can be seen in this chart:

The global cryptocurrency market cap is down more than $200 billion in the last 24 hours | Source: TradingView

As per this chart, the market cap fell by more than $400 billion in the past week. Of which, $224 billion was lost in just the past 24 hours.

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The Chart Pattern That Takes Ethereum To $10K

In a flash, Ethereum is back to trading under $3,000 after just weeks ago reaching a high well over $4,000. The wider crypto market correction got the best of ETH and the rest of altcoins especially, and even managed to take down Bitcoin.

However, if past market cycles are any indication of future results, the crash could be the first touch of an ascending trendline that sends the top-ranked altcoin to around $10,000 per ETH.

How DeFi and NFTs Make For A Very Different Bull Run Than ICOs

During the 2017 bull market, both Bitcoin and Ethereum soared as money flowed into the market. Much of that capital trickled its way down to ICOs, which only further fueled the FOMO for ETH. Eventually, they also led to the collapse of the second-ranked cryptocurrency and the start of the Ethereum bear market.

Today things are very different. The most important altcoin in the space carries the rest of the market on its back. Sure that leads to high fees and slower transactions, but that’s because DeFi is such a big deal and so are NFTs.

Related Reading | The Bearish Signal Ethereum Bulls Need To Fear

These two transcendent technologies are also thanks to Ethereum, and while other chains could take the lead, first-mover advantage is hard to beat. Even though the altcoin collapsed in price recently, the pullback was technical and fundamentals remain plenty bullish.

This could result in the latest selloff being the bottom, and after some gyrating in an ascending pattern, a breakout to $10,000 could be next for ETH.

The ascending triangle would target $10K ETH | Source: ETHUSD on TradingView.com

Analyst: Repeating Triangle Fractal Could Send Ethereum To $10K

The pattern in reference is an ascending triangle pattern, pictured above. The pattern also matches the final consolidation phase of the last bull market, before Ethereum ran to all-time highs and the bear market started.

Related Reading | Here’s Where The Ethereum Rally Could Pause, According To Bitcoin Blueprint

Ether has a lot more going for it this time around, but after a run from $4,000 to $10,000, the market might need a reset – much like the market needed to reset after the rise from $500 to $4,000 over the last year.

Ethereum pitchfork $10k

The path Ether could take if the fractal confirms | Source: ETHUSD on TradingView.com

According to one trader who also sees the pattern playing out, the target of the structure will be $10,000 per ETH. Adding in an ascending pitchfork channel and some bars from the last breakout projected forward, and the price action would fit.

The path Ethereum takes would only be visible in hindsight, but if accurate, the crypto market has one more leg up before the bull market is over.

Featured image from iStockPhoto, Charts from TradingView.com