Key Points
The spot crypto markets saw Ether (ETH) surge by 8% on Monday.
This increase is attributed to an uptick in social sentiment and optimism among derivatives traders.
In the past 24 hours, Ether prices have risen by approximately 8%, hitting an intraday high of $3,722 on April 9.
This price outperformed Bitcoin (BTC) and most of its closest competitors, as per data from CoinGecko.
Ethereum’s Performance in the Market
The price of ETH has not been this high since March 16, just over three weeks ago.
The asset is now only 9% away from its 2024 high of $4,070 and 24% down from its all-time high of $4,878 in 2021.
On the other hand, Bitcoin prices have moved 3% over the past day, reaching $71,395 at the time of writing.
Ethereum’s momentum could be attributed to several factors, including “ultra-strong” social and market activity, as reported by social intelligence firm Lunar Crush.
The firm noted in an April 8 post that “Social activity continues to accelerate, joined by both strong price action and market volume.”
Ethereum’s derivatives markets also suggest a bullish sentiment for the asset for the rest of April.
Currently, there is about $600 million in open interest (OI) at the $4,000 strike price and $378 million at strike prices of $3,700 and $5,000, according to crypto futures exchange Deribit.
This indicates an upside bias and bullish sentiment for the end-of-the-month options expiry on April 26, when around 900,000 Ethereum contracts expire with a notional value of $3.8 billion.
However, not all market participants share this bullish outlook.
Crypto author and educator Vijay Boyapati expressed his belief in an April 8 post that the expectation of Ethereum spot ETF approvals is driving momentum, but this could be short-lived if they are rejected.
He stated, “All the hot money that flowed into ETH because of ETF hopium is going to go back into Bitcoin once the Ethereum ETFs are all rejected…”
On April 9, on-chain analytics firm Santiment observed that “powered by Ethereum’s rise to start the week,” ERC-20 assets have been “well ahead of the markets on average,” with the sector growing by 8.1% in the past week.
In other news, Toncoin (TON) has surpassed Cardano (ADA) to claim the tenth spot by market capitalization following an 18.5% daily gain to hit an all-time high of $6.50 on April 9.
