The leading Altcoin Ethereum, after months of bearish consolidation, has shown positive signs in the past week. Ethereum has risen 4% in the past 24 hours, trading at around $3,840 at the time of writing. Driven by Bitcoin, this king of Altcoins hit a 6-month high of $3,900, rising above the $4,000 threshold earlier on Thursday.
At this time, Ethereum is still 21% away from its all-time high of $4,891 in November 2021. The market capitalization of the second-largest cryptocurrency has reached $463 billion, with its daily trading volume growing 46% to $63 billion. What factors are driving the rise of ETH? There are many factors driving the rise of Ethereum, forming strong buying pressure. Most notably, the US spot ETH exchange-traded fund has recorded continuous inflows for eight consecutive days. According to data provided by Farside Investors, the spot Ethereum ETF has seen net inflows of $882.3 million since November 22, mainly from BlackRock's ETHA fund. Although Grayscale's ETHE fund saw outflows of $3.4 billion, the total inflows of these investment products still reached $901.3 million.
Furthermore, according to data from the analysis platform IntoTheBlock, Ethereum recorded net outflows of $820 million in the past 7 days, with outflows of $385 million on December 4 alone, a new high in a month. On-chain trends indicate that investors have been accumulating assets. According to ITB data, considering that 74% of Ethereum holders have held their assets for more than a year, the leading Altcoin may face a decline in selling pressure. ITB data shows that in the past week, whale transactions of at least $100,000 worth of ETH reached $73 billion. The increase in whale activity often triggers signs of FOMO (fear of missing out) among retail investors, increasing buying pressure due to greedy market conditions. Additionally, Ethereum's decentralized finance (DeFi) sector has been growing strongly. According to a report by crypto.news on Wednesday, Ethereum's total locked value (TVL) in DeFi reached $72.9 billion, the highest level in 31 months at $134.7 billion. Although the price has risen to the June highs, Ethereum's relative strength index (RSI) is still hovering in the neutral zone, currently at 63. This indicates that the leading Altcoin is entering a mature accumulation phase, following the trajectory of digital gold.
