Ethereum (ETH) is attempting to retest the local range highs following last week’s market shakeout. However, some analysts believe that the cryptocurrency will continue its sideways move for the coming weeks before its next big move.
Ethereum Eyes Range High Resistance
Last week, Ethereum attempted to reclaim the $2,800 barrier, hitting a three-month high of $2,879. However, the market shakeout, fueled by the Iran-Israel conflict, sent the cryptocurrency’s price to retest its local range’s lows before recovering over the weekend.
Notably, ETH has been hovering between the $2,400-$2,680 range since the early May market recovery, which saw the King of Altcoins surge from the $1,800 mark toward its current price range for the first time in three months.
Nonetheless, it has been rejected from the local range’s resistance four times in the past month. Market watcher Daan Crypto Trades noted that Ethereum’s price action has been consolidating between these two key levels, compressing just below the $2,800 area.
This level has been a crucial area throughout the cycle, serving as a key support and resistance level since 2024. The trader considers this area to be “the most important level on this entire chart by far,” detailing that every major retest of this zone has led to either “a nice bounce” or “big dump.”
Meanwhile, ETH “went on to really even further” after every reclaim of this level as support. Daan explained that its current price range is “becoming quite a tight range for how long it’s been trading here. You can see how important this is and that there’s likely a big move coming from this point somewhere in the next few weeks.”
Based on this, he forecasted that “If we’d see a convincing break above $2.8K and hold there, that would be a good setup for a move to the cycle highs around ~$4K.” However, if it loses this current range, then the $2,100 area “is the big high timeframe level to watch.”
Is A 2017 Repeat In The Making?
Merlijn The Trader highlighted that Ethereum is now consolidating within its current range after breaking out of a multi-month falling wedge, which suggests that the cryptocurrency could soon experience a massive move.
He pointed out that, historically, “this pause often precedes a surge,” adding that the Relative Strength Index (RSI) is also retesting the recent breakout zone. Additionally, the trader noted that ETH appears to be following its 2016-2017 playbook, with a similar structure to eight years ago.
At the time, the cryptocurrency had an “explosive setup” that led ETH to a massive lift-off starting in 2017. After the market shakeout, the cryptocurrency moved sideways within a tight range while reclaiming the 50-day Moving Average (MA).
Following the key reclaim, Ethereum’s price experienced a massive surge toward new highs. According to Merlijn, “Same breakout zone. Same 50 MA reclaim. Sideways chop… then liftoff. But this time? Bigger market. Institutional fuel is backing ETH. No ceiling in sight. We’re not repeating history… We’re amplifying it.”
As of this writing, Ethereum is trading at $2,640, a 3.7% increase in the daily timeframe.
