Merge TimeETH 2.0 is here! Today, at around 3AM EST, Ethereum’s long-awaited transition from Proof-of-Work to Proof-of-Stake took place. Prior to the event, many were left wondering what the impact of this important occurrence would be on the market. Would a successful merge lead the way to a more bullish market outlook? Or would a failed merge lead to further capitulation and turmoil?
At first glance, it appears the merge has been successful. This event will shift the Ethereum blockchain over to new Proof-of-Stake validator nodes which will require staking 32 ETH in order to become a validator on the network. For an investor, holding ETH is now more attractive due to the fact that it is now deflationary. This means that Ethereum is now the highest market capitalisation deflationary asset on the planet. The transfer off the legacy Proof-of-Work system is proposed to lead to around a 99% reduction in the energy consumption of the network. In short, this will make Ethereum much more efficient and allow for significant strides to be made towards crypto’s environmentally sustainable future. Additionally, with the current ESG narrative in investing, this improved efficiency could attract new institutional investors to the world of crypto who may previously have avoided the sector in order to maintain a green image.
Another important implication of the merge is that the number of ETH tokens issued as block rewards will significantly reduce. Prior to the merge, around 13,000 Ether were mined each and every day. Now, this number will reduce to approximately 1,600 Ether per day. This is another bullish implication of the merge as there will be significantly less selling pressure on Ethereum from miners selling their rewards.
From a technical perspective, it appears the market already had this event priced in as in the last few hours we have not experienced any significant volatility that many were expecting. On the daily timeframe, there is a clear example of a symmetrical triangle pattern. Traders will be watching this chart closely as a breakout above this triangle could light the way to new range highs. Conversely, a break below this triangle could result in more pain and a return back towards the $1,400 - $1,450 support range. Another important thing to note is the convergence of MA9 and MA50 with a crossing potentially imminent. MA9 crossing above MA50 would be a bullish signal and provide support to the idea that a breakout above the triangle would be the more likely scenario.
