Ethereum successfully completed its long-awaited transition to proof-of-stake via "the Merge" on Sep. 15, while traders have been increasingly shorting Ether (ETH) in anticipation of a sell-the-news event. Ethereum funding rate plumme Ether's futures funding rates across leading derivatives platforms dropped below zero—to their worst levels to date—before the Merge. The rate dropped to as low as -0.6% on BitMex. Funding rates are a percentage of the fee paid to either short or long position holders. The platform decides the fee based on the difference between the perpetual futures contract and the spot price. Therefore, traders consider a market bullish …

The United States equities markets and the cryptocurrency markets had been rising leading up to the Sept. 13 release of the August consumer price index data, but the rally fell apart once the data showed inflation rising, rather than falling. The negative data dashed any hope of a Federal Reserve pivot in the near term and it triggered a sharp decline in risky assets. The market capitalization of U.S. stocks plunged by about $1.6 trillion on Sept. 13 and the market cap of the cryptocurrency markets slipped below $1 trillion. Statistician and independent market analyst Willy Woo, believes that Bitcoin …

Given the current state of the wider crypto market, some traders might be surprised to learn that Ether (ETH) has been trading in an ascending trend for the past 17 days. While the entire cryptocurrency market experienced a 10% decline on Sept. 13, Ether price held firm near the $1,570 support level. In less than 12 hours the Ethereum network is scheduled to undergo its largest ever upgrade and the possibility of extreme volatility should not be ignored. The transition to a Proof-of-Stake network will be a game changer for multiple reasons, including a 98.5% cut in energy use and …

A report from blockchain analytics platform Nansen highlights five entities that hold 64% of staked Ether (ETH) ahead of Ethereum’s highly anticipated Merge with the Beacon chain. Ethereum’s shift from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake is set to take place in the coming days after final updates and shadow forks were completed in early September. The key component of The Merge sees miners no longer used as validators, replaced by stakers that commit ETH to maintain the network. Nansen’s report highlights that just over 11% of the total circulating ETH is staked, with 65% liquid and 35% illiquid. There are a total …

Bitcoin (BTC) could dive another 50% from current levels if the upcoming winter proves a major test for Europe. That was the conclusion of a veteran crypto market analyst this week, with BTC/USD failing to reclaim $20,000 support. In an interview with Cointelegraph, Filbfilb, creator of trading suite Decentrader, forecast a potential BTC price bottom coming in at as low $10,000 in 2022. As the European energy crisis intensifies, risk assets face a major test, he believes, and the extent to which crypto suffers depends considerably on how diplomacy can win out to avert a major emergency into 2023. The …

Ethereum is just over a week away from officially moving to a proof-of-stake (PoS) blockchain with the Merge slated for completion around Sept. 13–15. With the transition, Ethereum would abandon its current proof-of-work (PoW) chain, eliminating miners from the ecosystem. Ethereum is a vast ecosystem with thousands of decentralized applications and decentralized finance protocols working on top of it. Additionally, there are several layer-2 solutions, i.e., solutions built on top of the blockchain itself, the layer 1, to facilitate faster transactions and make Ethereum more scalable. The Merge would mark the completion of the second phase of the three-phase transition …

Ethereum's native token Ether (ETH) shows the potential to log major gains versus Bitcoin (BTC) with the ETH/BTC pair nearing yearly highs. Ether paints classic bullish reversal pattern The bullish cues come from a classic technical pattern called the inverse head and shoulders, which develops when the price forms three troughs below a common support level known as neckline. The middle trough, or head, is deeper than the other two, called the shoulders. An inverse head and shoulders setup resolves after the price breaks above the neckline while accompanying an increase in trading volume. As a rule of technical analysis, …

After trading near the $20,000 level for several days, Bitcoin (BTC) turned down sharply and dropped below $19,000 on Sept. 6. The fall was not limited to the cryptocurrency markets as the United States equities markets also closed lower on Sept. 6. Risky assets have been facing selling pressure in the past few days as investors are worried that the Federal Reserve could continue with its aggressive tightening policy. The CME FedWatch Tool shows that the probability for a 75 basis point rate hike in the September meeting has risen to 80% from 69% a week back. This extended the …

Mainstream outlets are starting to pick up on the significance of next week’s Ethereum Merge, describing it as a “major overhaul” that could either accelerate crypto adoption or send disastrous shockwaves across the market should it fail. The Merge has been in the making since the original Ethereum white paper and involves moving from an electricity-intensive proof-of-work (PoW) consensus mechanism to an efficient proof-of-stake (PoS) without any significant disruptions to the blockchain. American business publication Forbes called the no-downtime upgrade akin to “[changing] the engine of a spaceship mid-flight,” and Swan Bitcoin CEO Cory Klippsten made a similar comment to …

An $860 surprise price correction on Sept. 6 took Bitcoin (BTC) from $19,820 to $18,960 in less than two hours. The movement caused $74 million in Bitcoin futures liquidations at derivatives exchanges, the largest in almost three weeks. The current $18,733 level is the lowest since July 13 and it marks a 24% correction from the rally to $25,000 on Aug. 15. It is worth highlighting that a 2% pump toward $20,200 happened in the early hours of Sept. 6, but the move was quickly subdued and Bitcoin resumed trading near $19,800 within the hour. Ether’s (ETH) price action was …

Bitcoin (BTC) traded in an increasingly narrow range on Sep. 6 as bets piled in over an imminent breakout. Binance futures giant sucks in spent BTC Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD staying under $20,000 for a fourth straight day with bulls failing to crack resistance. As many wondered when and how the latest consolidation phase would end, two popular social media traders noticed an ongoing accumulation trend by an unknown large-scale Binance futures trading entity. With retail investors selling, that entity had spent several days soaking up the liquidity, and the result was likely obvious. “Bounce …

The assumption that Ethereum will just transition to a fully functional proof-of-stake (PoS) network after the Merge somewhat ignores the risk and effort necessary to move an asset that has a $193 billion market capitalization and 400 decentralized applications (DApps). That is precisely why monitoring vital network conditions is essential for anyone willing to trade the event which is scheduled for Sept. 14, according to ethernodes.org. More importantly, traders should be prepared to detect any alarming developments in case things go wrong. Apart from the $34.2 billion in total value locked in smart contracts, another $5.3 billion in Ether is …