07 Dec 2021
Ethereum strength sends ETHBTC ratio to highs not seen since May 2018
The ETHBTC pair reaches a three-year high, as ether (ETH) maintains its strength.
Ether’s been seeing strength versus bitcoin since October, and during the weekend, the ETHBTC pair reached its highest level since May 2018 of 0.085 BTC.Throughout 2021, ETH has managed to maintain strength versus bitcoin, seeing higher lows versus bitcoin than what was seen in 2017 and 2018, which could signal that ETH is maturing as an asset.However, strong ETH and altcoin performance during BTC weakness was a bearish sign in 2017 and 2018, and this seems to be the case, also in 2021. The ETHBTC peak in May came right before the crash of May 19th, and a new spike followed in early September, with bitcoin later on crashing on September 7th.On December 5th, the bitcoin dominance fell towards 40%. The bitcoin dominance saw similar lows in September and May. Prior to this, the BTC dominance had not reached similar lows since May 2018.Altcoin strength after bitcoin strength is normal behavior in the crypto markets, with traders rotating further out in the risk curve when realizing bitcoin profits in hopes of achieving further gains. Altcoin strength has historically signaled a frothy and overextended market, especially during late-cycle-rotation. This is a somewhat alarming trend, worth monitoring onwards.