In this bull market cycle, the performance of the largest blockchain network Ethereum has not been as good as the market expected, which is clearly reflected in the native token ETH, which has not yet broken through the high point of the previous bull market and even seems to be struggling to reach the $4,000 mark.
In contrast, Bitcoin, BNB, and SOL have all reached the high point of the previous bull market in this cycle. Among them, Bitcoin has even broken through the $100,000 mark.
Three Reasons Why Ethereum Will Break New Highs Next Year
Against this backdrop, Eugene Ng Ah Sio, a cryptocurrency trader with over 110,000 followers on X, tweeted yesterday (29th) that there are three reasons why Ethereum will be the biggest beneficiary of this quarter in the first quarter of 2025:
1. Ethereum's price increase is significantly lagging behind: The price of Bitcoin (BTC) has risen 40% from its previous all-time high (ATH), while Ethereum (ETH) is still 30% below its ATH. Although this in itself does not have much indicative significance, as both have ETF products, for the general public, ETH appears cheaper than BTC, and is therefore more likely to be seen as having upside potential.
2. Trump's pro-crypto policy: The Trump administration has always been the most friendly towards assets with practical use and smart contracts. We have seen some DeFi assets (such as AAVE and UNI) perform well due to market expectations, but the biggest beneficiary is still Ethereum. Trump's WLFI did not venture into the Solana realm, but continued to choose Ethereum-based assets, and Eugene believes this trend will continue.
3. The development of the Base ecosystem: Among all Ethereum Layer 2 networks (L2), Base is the standout chain this year. Leveraging Coinbase's native distribution channels and the AI agent ecosystem driven by Virtuals, Base offers a value proposition very similar to Solana, and can undoubtedly be classified as a competitor. Since Base itself does not have its own token, the natural demand for the underlying asset ETH will increase, and the growth of the ecosystem activity will bring more positive inflows.
Driven by these three factors, Eugene expects ETH to break through $4,000 as early as next January, and to reach a new all-time high in the first quarter.
The market is still in the mid-cycle of the bull market
In addition, Eugene also predicts three areas that will continue to be hot next year:
- AI Agents;
- Utility fee-generating tokens;
- Tokens with ETF potential.
At the same time, Eugene also expressed his views on the overall market cycle by 2025:
In terms of the cycle peak, I think most of 2025 will be similar to 2023 or 2024, where we'll see some areas of re-evaluation, followed by a massive PvP. Eventually, one of the rebounds will reach the peak, but I think we're still far from that stage.
It's worth noting that we are currently in the mid-cycle stage of the market, and it is not necessarily necessary to take a "contrarian" approach to achieve good performance. In fact, following the current momentum trend may be the simplest way to profit at the moment, which is more practical than trying to discover new trends that have not yet taken off.
The next decision that needs to be made is to determine the timing of the global market peak. When I think the time is right, I will clearly express my views.
