Ethereum price was trading slightly higher earlier on Monday after slipping over the weekend. As of the time of writing, ETH was trading 1% higher at $1696.50. The largest altcoin by market cap has climbed nearly 42% in the year to date and almost 12% in the past week.
Shanghai Upgrade
Ethereum has been one of the best-performing cryptocurrencies in the past week, among others like; Cardano, Solana, Polygon, Filecoin, and many more. Data by CoinMarketCap shows that the overall crypto market cap has been on a strong bullish momentum in the past 24 hours. The total crypto market volume has jumped more than 47% over the past 24 hours.
Traders are closely watching the Ethereum price ahead of its Shanghai upgrade later in March. The upgrade will enhance the number of transactions taking place in the network by opening withdrawals of more than 16.5 million ETH staked in the blockchain.
The scheduled upgrade comes months after the Ethereum blockchain completed a Merge, which has been working to reduce the number of ETH in circulation. After the Merge, Ethereum did not see much volatility as expected.
However, with the Shanghai upgrade, traders are optimistic that it will have a significant impact on the ETH price. The upgrade will change the supply and demand of Ethereum in both short-term and long-term. The upgrade is likely to keep the cryptocurrency more volatile than it was after the Merge.
Ethereum Price Analysis
Ethereum price has been trading sideways for the past few days, around $1,700 as traders take their time to decide which side of the market they are on. On the daily chart, Ethereum is moving slightly above the 25-day and 50-day moving averages. The Relative Strength Index (RSI) points to a bearish divergence as it continues slipping lower.
Therefore, traders remain cautious as bears show credible evidence of dominating the markets. As such, a move below the key support level of $1,635 will have bears eyeing the next support at $1,500. However, bulls could prompt a surge past the resistance level at $1,735, invalidating the bearish view.
