Ether reclaims $3,000 as bulls take control and ETH upgrade plans gather pace

The cryptocurrency market is having a bullish start to the week as Bitcoin, Ether, and other major cryptos are currently in the green. The holiday period is marked by slow price action due to the low volume in the market.

However, this hasn’t stopped the bulls from regaining control, with Bitcoin rallying to the $90k level a few hours ago.

Ether reclaims $3k as Ethereum developers ramp up upgrades

Ether, the native coin of the Ethereum blockchain, is the best performer among the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market cap. It added 3% to its value in the last 24 hours and is now trading at $3,012 per coin.

The positive performance comes as the bulls regain strength, with Bitcoin and other major cryptocurrencies also in the green.

Ether’s rally also comes as Ethereum developers ramp up upgrade discussions for 2026. Ethereum developers have agreed on the Hegota upgrade to take place in the second half of 2026.

This upgrade will come after the Glamsterdam upgrade in the first half of the year and will focus on Verkle Trees.

Verkle Trees is a newer data structure designed to help Ethereum nodes store and verify large amounts of data more efficiently.

If implemented in the Hegota upgrade, Verkle Trees could significantly reduce hardware requirements for node operators, improving decentralization by making it easier for more participants to run nodes.

Meanwhile, the Glamsterdam upgrade aims to address MEV fairness on the network. Glamsterdam will feature the Proposer-Builder Separation (ePBS), formally tracked as EIP-7732. 

With this proposal, Ethereum developers seek to distinguish between nodes that build blocks on the Ethereum blockchain and those that propose them.

This will ensure no single actor can control which transactions are included or how they are ordered.

Ether eyes the 50-day EMA

The ETH/USD 4-hour chart is bearish and efficient as Ether has added 3% to its value in the last 24 hours.

It is currently trading above $3k, marking its fourth consecutive day in an uptrend. 

The rally means that ETH is approaching the 50-day EMA at $3,136.

If Ether overcomes this resistance level, it could extend its rally towards the  200-day EMA at $3,374, signaling an 11% upside from current prices.

Similar to the other leading cryptocurrencies, momentum indicators on the ETH/USD chart have switched bullish on the 4-hour timeframe.

The RSI stands at 62, indicating buying pressure. 

ETH could rally higher as the RSI seeks to cross into the overbought region.

The MACD lines also crossed into the positive region over the weekend, suggesting a strong bullish bias. 

However, if the bulls fail to push ETH beyond its 50-day EMA, the major altcoin could retest the recent local support, with the December 18 low of $2,850 also a possibility.