Ethereum’s price has surged after having been in the doldrums for weeks, helping boost its market share after it hit record lows.

Ether (ETH) has surged almost 15% over the past 24 hours, topping $1,800 on April 23. It has outperformed Bitcoin, which notched a 6% gain, and the wider crypto market, which has climbed almost 5% to reclaim a total market value of $3 trillion. 

Ether has now managed to recover almost 30% since its April 9 crash to $1,400, leading some analysts to suggest that the worst may be over for the world’s second-largest crypto asset.

“You can hate Ethereum all you want, but when it has a big day, the entire crypto ecosystem goes up,” crypto trader and analyst “Income Sharks” commented to their 640,000 X followers.

Market analyst “Ash Crypto” said ETH was “about to explode,” drawing comparison from the current chart pattern for Ether to that for Bitcoin’s performance in late 2024. 

BTC vs ETH performance and prediction. Source: Ash Crypto 

Jeff Mei, chief operating officer at the crypto exchange BTSE, was not conviced Ethereum was moving idependently, and told Cointelegraph that Ether’s gain “was largely due to it tracking the price of Bitcoin and the overall market,” and that that Paul Atkins’ confirmation as chair of the US Securities and Exchange Commission had boosted overall market sentiment.

Earlier this month, ETH had fallen back to bear market prices and had seen its market share dwindle amid a wide market downturn marred by fears of a trade war. 

On April 22, analyst “Rekt Capital” said that ETH’s market dominance has fallen back to all-time lows but “managed to protect 2019 all-time lows as support.” 

ETH dominance fell to its September 2019 low of 7% on April 22, according to TradingView. However, its subsequent price pump has seen that share bounce off this critical support level and return above 7.5% on April 23. 

ETH dominance lows. Source: Rekt Capital

Fundamental catalysts supporting the move

10x Research’s Markus Thielen told Cointelegraph that it hasn’t taken much to drive Ethereum higher, as a “heavily shorted market is now experiencing a squeeze.” 

Related: Ethereum Foundation shifts focus to user experience, layer-1 scaling 

Technically, Ethereum was oversold on both daily and weekly timeframes, setting the stage for a rebound, he said. 

“With the upcoming upgrade moving to mainnet, there’s also a fundamental catalyst supporting the move.” 

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