In the last day, Ethereum reached a significant milestone by briefly surpassing the $2291,292 mark for the first time in a long time. The price of ETH peaked at around $423,242, representing a remarkable increase of 228.46% over the past 259.1 days. ETH has increased in value to approximately $2,920 but has since dropped by 3.5% according to CryptoSlate’s data. What caused the rise in ETH’s value? The recent increase in ETH’s price is largely believed to be due to speculation about the possibility of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approving an Ethereum exchange-traded fund (ETF) in May. Standard Chartered, a British bank, has forecasted a positive outcome for the approval of a spot ETH ETF. Executives at cryptocurrency management companies, including Bitwise, Grayscale, and Galaxy Digital, predict a 50% chance of approval for pending Ethereum ETF applications. In the meantime, applicants such as VanEck, Ark Invest, and 21Shares are revising their applications to meet the SEC’s requirements for a Bitcoin ETF. Additionally, the market is optimistic about the upcoming Dencun upgrade. This enhancement will bring new features such as proto-danksharding and lowered fees. Furthermore, the update will improve the performance of the Ethereum network, lower transaction expenses, and enhance compatibility with other ecosystems. The overall market is showing a negative trend. There was a decrease in the broader cryptocurrency market during the period in question, with the total market value dropping by 0.32% to $28.463 trillion. Bitcoin reached a new high for the year, peaking just below $53,000 before falling to $51,268 at the time of publication, according to data from CryptoSlate. Large-cap cryptocurrencies such as Solana, Avalanche, Cardano, and Ripple’s XRP experienced losses of over 3%. The BNB coin supported by Binance and Tron’s TRX token were exceptions to the overall trend, with gains of less than 3%. These minor price increases led to substantial liquidations, amounting to over $291 million involving more than 92,000 traders, according to data from Coinglass. (Source: Coinglass)

(Source: Coinglass)