Ether hits 2020 high as Bitcoin tops $22K

While all eyes are on Bitcoin’s new all-time highs, some analysts are predicting four-figure Ethereum in the coming months.

While Bitcoin continues to push into new all-time highs, Ether has also tagged new year-to-date highs following news the Chicago Mercantile Exchange plans to launch ETH futures contracts in 2021.

BTC spiked into new highs on Dec. 16, gaining 10% in one day from $19,140 to $21,340. Dec. 17 has seen BTC extend the rally by a further 4% so far — with the market currently searching for support near $21,800 after posting a local top of $22,160.

While many traders appear to be glued to the Bitcoin charts, Ethereum also pushed into new yearly highs after gaining 8.5% yesterday. Today the price increased to a local top of $656 on BitMEX, with the markets currently hovering half a percent above yesterday’s closing price of $640.

The rally followed news that CME intends to launch ETH futures in 2021 pending regulatory approval. It cited strong customer demand for the product.

CME launched its Bitcoin futures contracts in December 2017, which signaled the top of that year’s historic rally.

Some predict even greater moves upwards for ETH to come. Twitter user ‘Altcoin Sherpa’ noted that ETH has begun multi-month rallies in December that saw gains of at least 100% for each of the past three years. As such, the analyst predicts Ether will soon surpass $1,000 for the first time since 2017.

Ethereum perma-bull ‘wolfofethereum.eth’ speculated that “the $ETH show is just getting started,” highlighting that Ether has outperformed BTC by 185% over the past 12 months.

Set Protocol’s Anthony Sassano posted an image comparing the metrics for Ethereum when it last broke $500 and the situation today — noting a 900% increase in active developers, an 80% increase in 24-hour transaction count, a 60% increase in active addresses, and a 150% increase in network hash rate.

ETH/BTC shorts on Bitfinex are currently sitting at record lows, suggesting the markets expect Ether to make gains over BTC for the foreseeable future. ETH/BTC longs are at their highest level since February 2018.

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