2018 should be the "year of Ether". So many analysts said, and users agreed with them. But the first quarter is already coming to an end, there is another deep correction on the market, and Ether has become one of many tokens, which tries to at least something to counter market volatility. While it turns out badly - the price of ETH is less than 50% of the recent highs. No one remembers the bullish forecast with a price of $ 5,000.
Ethereum is trading at $ 619, slightly higher after falling at the beginning of the day. At the last outburst, the ETH rose to 0.10 BTC, but this figure is still far from the absolute record of 0.14 BTC. Now ETH is just 0.07 BTC, and the dominance rate in the market has dropped to about 18%. Now the Ether is perceived by users not as the main pursuer Bitcoin, but as one of the representatives of numerous altcoyins.
Here are five factors that can affect the value of Ethereum in the coming months. It is worth noting that none of the factors is purely positive. In fact, all of them can affect the market price in both directions:
End of Mining
Now the development of Casper is at the testing stage. It is not known when this great upgrade of the Ethereum network will occur, but the developers plan to deploy this solution before the end of the year. So far, the news about Casper has not caused excessive interest in buying Ethereum tokens, but, perhaps, in the case of a specific date, this will happen. Freezing or blocking coins can also increase the market price.
The Ethfinex Effect
The activity and volumes of trade in ETH tokens can significantly increase in 2018. This will give the market more liquidity, and there will also be unregulated attempts to manipulate the price and artificially increase volatility. It is expected that liquidity will be achieved (including) thanks to the tokens of USDT and EURT, whose offer is currently small, but can grow significantly in the coming months
Fate ICO
ICO projects are likely to face difficulties this year. In addition to tightening control of the US Securities and Exchange Commission, buyers are also becoming more skeptical about the ICO. Some advertised ICO shows a weak development dynamics, both in relation to the market price, and in relation to the creation of a working product. The exchanges are slow to add endless new tokens to their platforms. Therefore, the need to purchase Ethereum tokens for participation in the ICO is gradually decreasing
Competing platforms
As other platforms become established, users and developers have the choice to create and use smart contracts, conduct and participate in the ICO, and so on. NEO, QTUM, Stellar, NEM become active players in this field. While the number of projects on their base is not as great as that of Ethereum, but during the year new favorites may appear on the cryptsocene.
Network overload
The status of the Ethereum network will also matter. The case with CryptoKitties showed that the network can not cope even with the usual game. There are also cases when some smart contracts are overdone with the use of gas. The implementation of the "shading" technology can significantly increase the efficiency level of the main blockage, but at the moment this decision to create side lockouts for certain purposes and applications remains only theoretical.