Ethereum bull trap? ETH price signals breakdown versus Bitcoin

The ETH/BTC exchange rate has surged by around 40% after bottoming out at 0.055 BTC. But the pair appears to be heading into a bull trap. 

A recent run-up in Ether (ETH) prices against its top rival Bitcoin (BTC) appears to be at the risk of exhaustion even as analysts see the second-largest cryptocurrency as stronger among the two.

In retrospect, the ETH/BTC exchange rate rose by up to 40.19% after bottoming out at 0.0553 BTC on May 23. The powerful rebound move reflected a spike in the capital flow from spot ETH to spot BTC market. That also led analysts at Delphi Digital — an independent market research firm — to highlight Ethereum's "formidable strength" in the Bitcoin-quoted markets. They wrote:

"If you look at the YTD ETH/BTC chart in isolation, you probably wouldn’t guess fear in the crypto market is the highest it’s been in a year."

But a closer look into the ETH/BTC chart returned evidence that bullish traders might be heading into a bull trap.

Bearish wedge

ETH/BTC formed a pattern that began wide at the bottom and contracted as the price moved higher. As a result, the trading range got narrowed. Meanwhile, the volumes declined as the prices rose and the contracting pattern evolved.

ETH price rise inside a bearish reversal pattern as trading volumes decline. Source: TradingView

Classic chartists refer to the structure as a Rising Wedge. They interpret it as a traditional bearish reversal pattern, primarily because of the loss of the upside momentum on each successive high formation.

Rising Wedges mature as the asset reaches the level where its two trendlines converge. Nevertheless, bearish confirmations do not come until the price breaks below the Wedge support in a convincing fashion. But if it does, the asset risks crashing by as much as the maximum distance between the Wedge's upper and lower trendline.

Therefore, the ETH/BTC rising wedge indicator suggests a decline towards 0.0648 BTC on a negative breakout attempt from the pattern's apex — the point at which the trendlines converge. Also, the 0.0648 BTC level has served as support thought the May 2021 session.

January 2018 fractal

Delphi Digital compared the responses of ETH/BTC to Bitcoin's cyclical tops in 2018 and 2021 to explain their bullish outlook for the pair.

The firm stressed that ETH/BTC was comparatively a weaker instrument during the 2017 price rally than 2021. The pair topped out mid-cycle — in June 2017 — even as Bitcoin continued climbing and reached $20,000 by year's end. By then, ETH/BTC had crashed by more than 85%.

But a massive correction in the Bitcoin prices in January 2018 offloaded capital into the altcoin markets, causing a short-term upside correction in BTC-enabled pairs. Ether also benefited from the money flow from Bitcoin markets, as it rebounded from 0.0231 BTC in December 2017 to 0.1237 BTC in January 2018 — a 435.44% rise.

ETH/BTC then started correcting lower in the weekly sessions as both Bitcoin and Ethereum took a beating in dollar-quoted markets. The pair eventually crashed from 0.1237 BTC, then a year-to-date top, to as low as 0.0246 BTC in December 2018.

But that is not the case with the ongoing ETH/BTC correction, noted Delphi Digital, writing:

"At the early 2018 top, ETH/BTC took a massive beating and didn’t recover even close to as quickly as it has this time."

ETH/BTC's 2018 and 2021 top comparison per Delphi Digital's outlook

Ethereum-Bitcoin correlation

Whether or not ETH/BTC would undergo a negative breakout appears to depend on how Bitcoin performs in dollar-quoted markets.

The BTC/USD exchange rate declined by up to 53.77% from its record high, near $65,000, and started consolidation later. Meanwhile, the ETH/USD rate also corrected in tandem with BTC/USD, plunging 60.59% from its all-time high of $4,384. That showed a strong linear correlation between the two digital assets.

Nick Spanos, the founder of Bitcoin Center NYC, told Cointelegraph that Ether would need to break its correlation with Bitcoin in the dollar-denominated markets to have an independent ETH/BTC trend. Until then, sharp downside moves in ETH/USD and BTC/USD would also mean a depressive ETH/BTC trend. He added:

"While Ethereum has good fundamentals and upgrades in the works, its potential growth in the future is somewhat dependent on the performance of Bitcoin. A breakaway from this trend is being projected by Ethereum investors. However, the current trend does not indicate the likelihood of this in the near to mid term."

Yuri Mazur, head of the data analysis department at CEX.IO cryptocurrency exchange, added that the ongoing anti-inflation narrative could allow Bitcoin to resume its uptrend. As a result, the rest of the cryptocurrency market, including Ethereum, should follow suit. He told CoinTelegraph:

"ETH/BTC should benefit from a rising trend for cryptocurrencies, especially as Ethereum undergoes the London hard fork upgrade later in July."

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