The largest smart contract platform and altcoin king Ethereum’s (ETH) recent lackluster price movement has started to be characterized as “dead” by many, following the rapid rise of competitors Solana (SOL) and Avalanche (AVAX). Crypto analyst Metaquant suggested on January 5th that it’s now Ethereum’s turn to rise, indicating a similar Layer-1 transformation in the fourth quarter of 2023 as seen in 2021.
The Return to Ethereum Begins
Experienced crypto analyst Metaquant notes that investors are withdrawing their ETH from centralized crypto exchanges and that network activity has been gradually increasing compared to previous weeks, signaling a shift back to Ethereum. “Ethereum’s on-chain data is showing signs of an uptrend,” he said.
The analyst emphasized that after significant rises in AVAX and SOL in the last ten days, they began to show signs of stagnation, whereas ETH continued to move sideways without showing weakness, suggesting that “The next bull run will likely be on ETH and its ecosystem.”
The network activity of Ethereum and Layer 2 networks has been steadily increasing for months. According to L2beat, the total value locked (TVL) in the Layer 2 ecosystem reached an all-time high of 21 billion dollars on January 4th. In addition to the increase in TVL, daily active wallet addresses, fees on Layer 2 networks, and the market value of stablecoins on Layer 2s are also steadily rising.
The analyst states that the rise in ETH’s price has been delayed due to investors’ attention being elsewhere, but when the price starts to climb, everyone will turn back to ETH and Layer 2. “On-chain data shows that there is no bull run without an ETH season, so it’s only a matter of time before this starts to happen,” he expressed.
ETH’s Price Outlook and the 10,000 Dollar Target
At the time this article was written, the price of ETH was trading around 2,250 dollars. When looking at the altcoin king’s chart from a distance, it is noticeable that its price has been consolidating for the last month.
Analysts are expecting ETH’s price to reach new highs this year, pointing to a potential target level of 10,000 dollars. This represents more than double the all-time high level from the last cycle, which saw a gain of 4,800 dollars from bottom to top.
