ETH/BTC Ratio Soars To Nine-Month High Ahead Of The Merge

Ether is up 6% in the past 24 hours as traders remain optimistic ahead of Ethereum’s transition to proof-of-stake consensus, now just a week away.

Global markets rallied on Wednesday as a weaker U.S. dollar saw the Nasdaq and S&P 500 post gains of nearly 2%.

Among the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, ETH and Binance’s BNB were the top performers. Layer 1 blockchains Solana, Cardano and Polkadot are each up around 5%, while Bitcoin is up 2.4%

ETH,BTC,SOL Prices. Source: The Defiant Terminal

‘Hodlers Beware’

Not everyone is outright bullish, however.

Crypto continues to trade in lockstep with equity markets, and some investors believe that macroeconomic headwinds may put a damper on the Merge party.

“Ethereum’s migration to a greener world with Proof of Stake consensus is the biggest news event in crypto in years,” Chris Terry, VP at crypto lender SmartFi, told The Defiant.

“With that said, macroeconomics once again are overshadowing crypto news with a full-blown energy crisis in Europe. No matter how good PoS is for ETH, if equities tank, you can plan on those markets dragging down crypto as well. Hodlers beware,” he continued.

ETH/BTC Pops

The ETH/BTC ratio, a closely watched measure of the relative valuation of the world’s two largest cryptocurrencies, briefly crossed 0.085 on Wednesday — its highest level since 10 December 2021.

ETH/BTC Ratio. Source: TradingView

Ether is up 5% in the past week, while Bitcoin has declined 3.5%, according to data from The Defiant Terminal.

Notable Moves

Luna Classic, the governance token of the ill-fated Terra blockchain, has nearly doubled in price since Sept. 5. The move could be linked to founder Do Kwon’s reappearance on Twitter.

Helium, a blockchain project that incentivizes users to provide wireless coverage, saw its HNT token rally by nearly 50% on Wednesday. HNT has been in free-fall since Aug. 30, when the company announced plans to migrate to the Solana network.

HNT Price. Source: Coingecko