Ether price finally beats its 2018 all-time high, surpassing $1,428

Ether (ETH), the largest altcoin by market cap, finally reached new all-time highs against the U.S. dollar on Jan. 19.

At the same time, Bitcoin futures open interest has also reached a new record high of over $4.5 billion, according to Glassnode. 

$ETH open interest at an ATH.Chart https://t.co/Gdq1xWC22U pic.twitter.com/j53Fp8GJKW

— glassnode (@glassnode) January 19, 2021

Ether price is back after 3 years

Data from Cointelegraph Markets and TradingView showed ETH/USD beat its existing record during Tuesday trading, passing $1,428 on Bitstamp.

The achievement, which resets a price ceiling in place since Jan. 13, 2018, came as Ether gained 15% on the day, with year-to-date returns at nearly 100%.

The altcoin benefited from interest in decentralized finance (DeFi) trading built around the Ethereum network, within the context of a broader altcoin resurgence which began taking shape earlier in January.

"#Ethereum $1,400. If this continues running according to Fibonacci, we might hit $1,600," Cointelegraph Markets analyst Michaël van de Poppe summarized to Twitter followers on Tuesday.  

Van de Poppe had previously forecast that Fibonacci levels could take ETH/USD as high as $2,600 in the short term.

"Ethereum's daily transaction volume is going parabolic," Ryan Watkins, a researcher at Messari, added.

"It now settles $12 billion in transactions daily - $3 billion more than Bitcoin. Imagine not being bullish $ETH."

The Concorde of crypto?

As Cointelegraph reported, the Ethereum network now settles around 28% more transactions daily than Bitcoin (BTC), but remains plagued by high fees as a result of increased usage.

In a dedicated analysis released this week, popularinvestment strategist Lyn Alden compared Ethereum as a concept to Concorde, arguing that it may yet fail to reach the mainstream in a similar way to the supersonic airliner.

"Maybe Ethereum will iterate until it finds a sustainable place for itself," she wrote.

"On the other hand, Ethereum could end up being weighed down by its own complexity and lack of broad economic use, like the Concorde."