On Wednesday, February 3, the price of the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalisation breached the $1,600 level, setting a new price record.
Hourly ETH/USD chart on Bitstamp. Data: TradingView.
This occurred amid relatively low trading volumes.
The asset’s market capitalisation surpassed $180 billion, and the dominance index rose to 16.1% (according to CoinGecko).
Data: CoinGecko.
The $1,500 milestone was surpassed on February 2.
In January, Spencer Nunn, an investor at Variant Ventures, listed 11 metrics that, in his view, pointed to the continuation of the rally for the cryptocurrency. At that time, January 19, the price surpassed the $1,400 level.
Analysts at Glassnode previously noted that the upside pressure on Ethereum is being created by large holders of the coin.
When the cryptocurrency’s price early in the year breached the $1,300 mark, DTAP Capital founder Dan Tapiero said that its further rise would attract institutional investors. He referred to plans by Standard Chartered and the financial services provider Northern Trust to launch a custodial service supporting the two largest-cap cryptocurrencies.
“If Northern Trust stores Bitcoin and Ethereum, it means there are buyers for both assets,” Mr Tapiero stressed at the time.
However, according to Robert Gutmann, CEO of the New York Digital Investment Group (NYDIG), large investors are interested exclusively in Bitcoin.
As noted, on February 8, 2021, CME began trading Ethereum futures.
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