Ethereum price is currently $367 after establishing a renewed uptrend on the daily chart. The smart-contracts pioneer remains rank 2 by market capitalization with $41 billion and has experienced a notable rise in trading volume since July 1.
The ETH 2.0 release has been delayed several times, diminishing the confidence of investors. However, this major and fundamental upgrade will have a huge impact on the price of Ethereum. A successful launch can be the spark of a new and bigger bull rally towards the all-time high and above.
Ethereum Metrics Shift Bullish
One of the biggest issues faced by Ethereum users is the high gas cost. Back in September 2020, ETH had two major price spikes in gas. Fortunately, it seems that October has cooled off prices, dropping from a high of 500 GWEI to a 3-month low of 48.123.
— glassnode alerts (@glassnodealerts) October 17, 2020
#Ethereum $ETH Number of Addresses Holding 10+ coins just reached an ATH of 289,091
Previous ATH of 289,081 was observed earlier today
View metric:https://t.co/6ggy1nLbSD pic.twitter.com/6To970zhd4
One of the most bullish on-chain metrics favoring buyers is the number of addresses holding at least 10 ETH coins. According to Glassnode, this number has reached a new all-time high at 289,081 indicating that the interest in the digital asset continues growing.
Furthermore, thanks to a chart provided by Santiment, we can observe a significant increase in the number of Ethereum whales as well. The number of holders with at least 100,000 coins and up to 1,000,000 ETH increased from a low of 159 on September 21 to 165, currently. That means that there are 6 more whales holding approximately at least $216 million worth of ETH.
— glassnode alerts (@glassnodealerts) October 17, 2020
#Ethereum $ETH Balance on Exchanges (1d MA) just reached a 10-month low of 16,360,889.416 ETH
Previous 10-month low of 16,362,748.961 ETH was observed on 01 October 2020
View metric:https://t.co/1dCpD2ey8E pic.twitter.com/aoUEwHkPVL
The good news doesn’t stop there. The number of ETH inside exchanges has hit a 10-month low. A high ETH balance on exchanges usually indicates strong selling pressure, in this case, it shows that investors are not interested in selling right now. It also seems that Ethereum’s realized price, which is the realized cap divided by the current supply, has hit a 21-month high of $244.44
Only 1 Final Barrier For Ethereum to Hit $500
With so many bullish on-chain metrics in favor of Ethereum, can we see the digital asset hit $500 again?
Looking at the daily chart, we can observe a critical resistance level established at $390 and tested several times in the past. Although the 50-SMA, 100-SMA, and 200-SMA are all support levels, bulls still need to see a breakout above $390.
Climbing over this point will easily allow Ethereum to at least reach the 2020-high of $488.8 which is extremely close to the price target of $500.
The IOMAP chart seems to validate this idea as it shows only one strong resistance area between $368 and $378 but almost no resistance beyond this point.
