ETH rallies to $3.6K, BTC Holds Steady at $71K

Apr 09, 2024
This morning, the price of Ethereum reached $3.6K amid increasing interest in the new DeFi protocol, Ethena. The largest cryptocurrency remained at its previous level and was trading at $71K at the time of writing this article.
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According to CoinGecko data, tokens of decentralized liquid staking protocols, Lido DAO, and Rocket Pool ETH, also saw price increases of 10% and 8% respectively.

According to reports, the stablecoin Ethena USDe recently added Bitcoin as collateral. Traders speculating on Polymarket foresee a 16% probability of a spot Ethereum ETF approval in the US by the end of May. Meanwhile, 45% are confident that approval will be granted by the end of June.

Some traders were prepared for Bitcoin to take the lead after the key support level of the ETH/BTC ratio declined. Consequently, the rise in ETH led to a rapid market positioning adjustment, resulting in a sharp increase in perpetual funding rates or the cost of holding long/short positions. Potential volatility also led to significant closing of long positions in external ETH call options.

According to QCP, BTC was expected to rise last Friday; however, ETH emerged as the rally leader.