Bitcoin and Ethereum Price Predictions – The Cryptonomist
A number of predictions are circulating these days about the short-term trend in the prices of Bitcoin and Ethereum claiming that it could be negative.
On the other hand, it is worth noting that positive predictions are circulating in the medium term.
Different predictions for different time frames: the price of Bitcoin and Ethereum
Bitcoin: the trend in the short term
In the short term, the hypotheses that seem to be circulating the most are that the price of Bitcoin may return to the levels of late March, i.e. below $27,000.
It is worth noting that in these early months of 2023 since it has risen steadily above $25,000, it has not fallen below that threshold.
According to some, $25,000 will be the exact support below which the price of BTC may not fall in the short to medium term.
However, not everyone agrees with this prediction, because there are quite a few who argue that the financial markets as a whole may still return to severe distress, especially due to the global macroeconomic and financial situation.
Among the most pessimistic, there are even suggestions that it may not even have the support of $15,000, which has remained throughout 2022, with a possible drop even below $12,000.
It is worth mentioning that such a prediction has been circulating now since November, and so far has proven to be completely wrong.
In the short term, there seem to be few who argue that the price can continue to rise, not least because the first few days of May could prove to be difficult for the financial and crypto markets, due to the fact that some releases such as ETH are still stuck investing in Lido.
Ethereum: the trend in the short term
The predictions regarding Ethereum are very similar, although the price of ETH at the end of March ($1,700) was significantly lower than it is today ($1,850).
Additionally, support for Ethereum’s price appears to be at $1,400, which is 24% lower than today’s level. For Bitcoin, on the other hand, support at $25,000 is only 8% below today’s level.
However, after the release of the bet ETH on Lido, Ethereum may give way to Bitcoin and the BTC price may return to influence the crypto markets as it did in the first three months of the year.
As of the second week of May, Ethereum’s price trend can easily follow that of Bitcoin.
Bitcoin and Ethereum: medium-term predictions
That said, the less than optimistic forecast in the short term leaves room for much better prospects in the medium term.
It is worth noting that in 2023 a retracement has always been needed before a strong recovery.
After the decline in January, with Bitcoin rising to almost $24,000, a descent all the way down to below $22,000 was needed to then break through the $24,000 resistance with momentum.
Something similar happened with $25,000, which even required a short return well below $2,000 to break through.
Although Bitcoin managed to break above $30,000 in early April, it was unable to hold that high, and it is possible that a descent all the way below $26,000 will be necessary to generate enough bounce to see BTC rise steadily above that threshold.
On the other hand, in the medium term, the major attention thresholds are well above the $30,000 touched in early April.
The first attention threshold is $35,000, which is a level proportionally reminiscent of the level touched in May 2019.
What dominates the prediction in the medium term is always the comparison with 2019, i.e. the previous post-bear market year. There were three major growth phases then, one in April, one in May and one in June. Then the price dropped.
In 2023 in April, the growth was not particularly marked, but probably because the price had already grown a lot in the previous months. So the first growth phase in 2023 was longer than in 2019, but correspondingly in relation to the overall growth.
For this reason, it seems not at all unlikely that May 2023 will see another small bull run, similar to that of May 2019, with the price of BTC expected to rise as high as $35,000, if similar proportions continue.
The eventual third leg of this uptrend could take the price above $40,000 in June. However, these are not true predictions, just comparisons with a similar year in the recent past.
The Altcoin Landscape
From the second week of May, the price trend of altcoins, including Ethereum, can easily follow that of Bitcoin, especially if a scenario similar to the one just described occurs.
However, on the one hand, there is not the slightest certainty that this can actually happen, while on the other hand, it must be said that altcoins do not always follow Bitcoin slavishly.
However, the fact that Bitcoin’s dominance in January and March made two big jumps, albeit small ones, seems to indicate that in 2023 the crypto market could be dominated by Bitcoin, with rare exceptions, like Ethereum before the Shapella update.
It is worth noting that among the top 30 cryptocurrencies by market cap, only Solana’s SOL has outperformed BTC during 2023, but it did so after a near-vertical collapse at the end of 2022. All of the other 28 have underperformed for now, probably precisely because it is Bitcoin that drives the crypto markets at this stage.
