Ethereum price outlook: the bullish case for ETH amid the crypto winter

Ethereum price has slumped this year, moving from a record high of $4,960 in August last year to the current $1.980. This retreat has mirrored the performance of other cryptocurrencies, with Bitcoin falling to $68,000 from last year's high of $126,300. This article explores some of the top reasons why ETH price will rebound this year.

Ethereum staking demand is soaring 

The first major catalyst for the Ethereum price is that demand for its staking is still soaring this year. Data compiled by StakingRewards shows that there has been a net increase of 777k staked ETH in the past 30 days. The staking ratio has jumped to 30.7%, a record high.

Most importantly, data shows that the staking queue has jumped to a record high of over 4 million, with the waiting period being over 40 days. This means that there are more investors seeking to stake more ETH tokens than those who expect to exit these positions.

Soaring staking demand is important because these investors have a long-term view. A good example of this is BitMine, which has started to stake its Ethereum hoard. The company expects to continue holding its staked ETH coins for many years to come.

Ethereum network is doing well across all areas 

The other main reason why the ETH price will rebound is that the network is doing well across the board despite the ongoing crypto winter.

For example, data compiled by Nansen shows that the number of transactions in the network jumped by 16% in the last 30 days to over 69 million. 

Also, the number of active addresses has jumped by nearly 10% to over 14 million, while its network fees has jumped by 100% to nearly $20 million.

This network growth has accelerated after the recent Fusaka upgrade, which introduced new features to the ecosystem.

Analysts believe that the upcoming network upgrades will help to drive activity in the network in the coming months. The two main upgrades to the network this year are Hegota and Glamsterdam.

A key aspect that will be implemented this year is the introduction of stealth addresses, which will transform Ethereum into a privacy chain of sort.

Key ecosystem metrics are soaring 

Meanwhile, top network metrics on Ethereum are doing well this year. For example, data compiled by Artemis shows that the network has over $164 billion in stablecoin assets. It handled transactions worth over $1.1 trillion in the past 30 days, with most of them being in decentralized finance and centralized exchanges.

More data reveals that Ethereum’s total value locked (TVL) is sitting near its all-time high in ETH terms. It has jumped to 27.12 million ETH tokens, lower than the all-time high of 28 million ETH.

Most importantly, Ethereum leads the other top chains in the real-world asset tokenization industry. Its assets in this industry have soared to over $17 billion, a trend that may continue to accelerate in the near term.

Ethereum price prediction: Technical analysis 

The weekly chart shows that the ETH token price has crashed in the past few months, moving from a high of $4,950 last year to the current $1,982.

A closer look shows that coin has formed an inverted head-and-shoulders pattern, a common bullish reversal sign in technical analysis. It is now sitting at the right shoulder section.

The Relative Strength Index (RSI) has moved to the oversold level. Therefore, the most likely scenario is where the coin rebounds in the coming weeks. If this happens, the next key resistance level to watch will be at $2,500.