ETH Price Dynamics: ETH Awaits a Strong Catalyst to Record an Uptober Rally

After gaining by 1.6% within the last 24 hours, ETH is exchanging at $2,404 ETH/USDT on Gate.io. On the backdrop of a strong bearish outlook Ethereum needs a reliable catalyst to push its value higher. Some analysts anticipate that the number one altcoin may rally if Vitalik Buterin is nominated the economics Nobel Prize winner on 14 October. Both Alex Tabarrok, an Economics professor and Tyler Cowen have tipped the Ethereum co-founder to win the Nobel Prize in Economics. In a recent podcast the two highlighted Buterin’s role in developing the Ethereum blockchain and the ETH crypto. Currently, ETH has a market capitalization of over $290 billion.

Commenting on this Cowen said, "Vitalik has built a platform, created a currency, you could say refuted Mises’ regression theorem in the process, obviously following in the footsteps of Satoshi [Nakamoto.”

He continued, "He writes on monetary economics, and there's no economist who has anything better to say on the topics he writes on. And that, to me, is worth a lot in this consideration."

Tabarrok gave his views as well. He said, "I think you would have thought [Bitcoin and Ethereum] were impossible if you had thought about it in advance, yet they're actually working in the real world." In the meantime, ETH has some mixed market indications about its next price moves.

Ethereum Bullish vs Bearish Future: A Mixed Outlook Emerges

As hinted above, Ether (ETH) is showing mixed signals about its near-term price movement. As an example, since 5 October ETH had exchange net inflows. However, there has been a rise in its exchange reserves as the next graph shows.

Ethereum Exchange Reserves – CryptoQuant

The increase in exchange reserves shows a rise in selling price which may force its price to drop. In a similar manner, there has been a high outflow among the spot Ethereum ETFs. This also indicates rising bearish momentum.

Also, since the beginning of October ETH experienced a decrease in active addresses. The metric has dropped by 15% reflecting a fall in the wallet addresses from 512.8k to $434.2K. The following graph summarizes the current situation. The decrease in active wallet addresses indicates waning interest in the altcoins which may result in a price fall.

Ethereum 24-hours active addresses - Santiment

In another development that added bearish pressure to ETH the Ethereum Foundation moved 2,500 ETH to Bitstamp. This is an indication that it aims to sell the coins. The sale of such a large quantity of ETH may lead to a further fall in its price.

Ethereum Foundation Moves 2,500 ETH to Bitstamp – x.com/CryptoNews

Apart from the bearish pressure such a transfer of a large amount of ETH to exchanges can create negative market sentiment. That can also generate uncertainty in the market which can lead to short-term crypto volatility.

Nevertheless, there are developments that have also created a positive ETH market sentiment. First off, the ETH MVRV ratio indicates a potential ETH recovery in the near future. Data on Santiment shows that ETH’s 365 MVRV ratio has stabilized around -13.7%. Historically, such a negative ETH MVRV ratio has coincided with a market bottom. As a result, it shows that the altcoin price may rebound soon.

Ether 365 MVRV Ratio – Santiment

Likewise, the 30-day MVRV ratio is also indicating a bullish outlook. Recently, it had a rebound, from -21% to -1.35%. This uptick shows that the short-term ETH investors are showing more interest in the coin than before. If this trend continues the ETH price may stabilize or rise soon.

ETH Price Forecast

Starting last week, the ETH price has been showing much resurgence. For example, during the previous week the ETH price soared from $2300 to $2460. That increase represented a 6% surge. Nevertheless, the altcoin had a retracement which resulted in it being priced at $2,404 ETH/USDT at the time of writing. The following graph shows ETH’s current 7-day price chart.

ETH Price Action – Coingecko

As the graph indicates ETH’s price decreased significantly within the last two days before it regained yesterday. Current ETH’s price target is $2,460. If it surpasses that level it may head towards $2,493 it last reached on 6 October. An increase in its bullish pressure may push it past $3,000. However, the performance of the entire crypto market will have an impact on its price movement as well.

On the contrary, ETH is very close to the $2, 293 support floor it tested during the morning session on 9 October. An increase in selling pressure will likely drive its value towards the $2,340 support level. In the meantime, there is a high expectation that the ETH price may fluctuate between $2,293 and $2,405 within the next few days.

ETH’s performance is in sync with the broader cryptocurrency market where leading coins like bitcoin, SOL and BNB are in red. For example, BNB is trading at $564 BNB/USDT, after losing by 3.2% within the previous 24 hours.