Ether Price Nears $300 as Bitcoin, DeFi Tokens Fuel New Bull Run

Ether (ETH) price has shown an incredibly strong performance this week, rising more than 22% since the start of the week and currently less than one dollar away from setting a new high for 2020. 

Crypto market weekly price chart. Source: Coin360

As reported by Cointelegraph, the upcoming Ethereum 2.0 upgrade and the explosive growth of the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector are being attributed to the current bullish sentiment surrounding the second-biggest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. 

The strong upside move began on July 21 when the Bitcoin (BTC) price surged to $9,430 and a high volume spike pushed Ether price above the descending trendline and the high-volume visible profile visible range (VPVR) level at $246. 

Once above $245, Ether price exploited the VPVR gap from $246 to $263 and pushed through the resistance level at $263-$271.

ETH/USD daily chart. Source: TradingView

If the bulls are able to push the price above the Feb. 14, 2020 high at $288.32, then a quick rise to $317 is a possibility. Breaching this level will put ETH price in position to retest the June 2019 high at $367. 

Ether price as % of BTC price. Source: Skew

The ETH/BTC pair is also showing strength and according to data from Skew, Ether’s price as a percentage of Bitcoin price has risen to a new high. 

Ether daily price chart. Source: Coin360

As Ether price rallied to $287.23, Bitcoin price fluctuated around the $9,600 level. Many of the top-20 altcoins also posted moderate gains. 

Cardano (ADA) rallied 8.42%, Binance Coin (BNB) added 7.73%, and Litecoin (LTC) gained 6.42%.   

According to CoinMarketCap, the overall cryptocurrency market cap now stands at $289.3 billion. At the same time, Bitcoin’s dominance index has been trending down since the 2020 highs of 67% to the current 61%.

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