Ethereum price is close to reclaiming the area lost during yesterday’s downside action while Bitcoin slowly crawls back into $19,000. The second cryptocurrency by market cap is about to experience a major event with high potential to operate as a bullish catalyst, “The Merge”.
At the time of writing, Ethereum price trades at $1,570 with a 3% profit over the past week. As Bitcoin was pushed down by a fresh leg down, market participants see ETH as the potential savior of the sector.
ETH’s price moving sideways on the 4-hour chart. Source: ETHUSDT Tradingview
Will Bulls Or Bears Take Control Of The Ethereum Price?
Due to its importance, many experts are speculating about the potential for “The Merge”, the transition from Proof-of-Work (PoW) to Proof-of-Stake (PoS), to support a relief rally in the market. Others believe the event will operate as a “Buy the rumor, sell the news event”.
The latter often happens when there is a widely expected event in the sector which leads to a rally followed by a sudden crash shortly after the hype dissipates. Next week, the U.S. Federal Reserve will publish its Consumer Price Index (CPI) print, a metric used to measure inflation.
Economist Alex Krüger claims the CPI print might provide support for risk-on assets to rally. In the past, cryptocurrencies have trended to the upside after this event. Together with “The Merge”, Ethereum price seems poised for upside volatility. The expert said on the potential set-up for ETH traders:
If trading $ETH directionally for the merge probably want to go long into the event with stops right above the August lows and shoot for a 1700 break to take the price into the 1800-2100 range.
Whether ETH’s price can sustain the bullish momentum post “Merge”, Krüger believes that this will depend on the strength of the price action. If Ethereum can run hot into the event, the price might be able to flip key resistance levels into support.
Can “The Merge” Trigger A New Crypto Bull Run?
Despite its importance, Krüger believes “The Merge” might be unable to push the crypto market into price discovery. Legacy financial markets are trending downside, alongside cryptocurrencies. This is the most important overhead resistance only a couple of days before this event. Krüger added:
Fundamentally the merge improves ETH attractiveness via lower energy consumption and more importantly vastly improved tokenomics (…). That is highly likely not enough to kickstart a bull market by itself. Need a bull market in equities for that. To me the idea of $ETH decoupling is what I call a pipedream.
If equities bounce with the CPI print, crypto will find further support. However, macro conditions might continue to remain unfavorable for the rest of 2022 as hinted by Fed Chair Jerome Powell.
Presenting an opposite thesis, in the video below, our Editorial Director Tony Spilotro looks into the current market conditions and why a decline in Bitcoin dominance might hint at a new Altcoin Season. This could have positive implications for Ethereum price heading into “The Merge”. Take a look.
