ethereum price soared to a notable milestone last day, briefly crossing the $3,000 mark for the first time in 22 months.
During this period, the price of eth reached a high of approximately $3,025, marking a notable 27% increase in the last 30 days. However, its value has retreated slightly to around $2,920 at press time, experiencing a 3.5% drop, according to CryptoSlate data.
Why did eth rise?
eth's recent price surge is widely attributed to speculation surrounding the possible approval of an ethereum exchange-traded fund (ETF) by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in May.
Standard Chartered, a British multinational bank, predicted a favorable outcome for the spot approval of an eth ETF. Key figures at crypto asset management firms, such as Bitwise, Grayscale, and Galaxy Digital, estimated a 50% chance of approval for these pending ethereum ETF applications.
Meanwhile, applicants like VanEck, Ark Invest and 21Shares are adjusting their requests to align with the SEC's criteria for approving a bitcoin ETF.
Furthermore, market sentiment has been boosted by Dencun's upcoming upgrade. This update will introduce features such as proto-danksharding and fee reductions. Additionally, the upgrade will help improve ethereum network performance, reduce transaction costs, and improve ecosystem interoperability.
The market in general sees red numbers.
The overall crypto market saw a decline during the reporting period, with the global crypto market capitalization falling 0.32% to $1.96 trillion.
bitcoin rose to a new yearly peak just below $53,000 but quickly fell to $51,268 at press time, according to CryptoSlate data.
Large-cap digital assets such as Solana, Avalanche, Cardano, and Ripple's XRP experienced losses of over 3%. However, Binance-backed BNB coin and Tron's TRX token bucked the trend, posting gains of less than 3%.
These price movements triggered major liquidations, totaling more than $291 million from more than 92,000 merchants, according to Coinglass. data.
bitcoin led the liquidation figures with a total loss of $75 million. Long bitcoin traders accounted for $42 million in losses, while short traders lost $28.46 million. ethereum followed closely behind, contributing $59.1 million to the overall sell-off, with short traders bearing the brunt of the losses.