Cronos rallies 17% ahead of its zkEVM v26 Mainnet upgrade

Cronos (CRO), the token for the Crypto.com platform, extends its gain by 17% and trades around $0.11 on Monday after surging nearly 18% the previous day. The main reason behind the rally is the partnership between Trump Media and Technology Group and Crypto.com on Monday and the upcoming mainnet upgrade on CRO this week. Moreover, the technical outlook and open interest data suggest a rally continuation.

Why is Cronos going up today?

Cronos price rallies more than 17% during the early Asian session on Tuesday after gaining 17.54% the previous day. The two main reasons for the price rally are as follows:

Firstly, the announcement of President Trump’s Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG) plans to launch a series of ETFs in 2025 in partnership with Crypto.com. The ETFs will focus on cryptocurrencies and securities originating in the US, made available through Crypto.com’s broker-dealer, Foris Capital. Crypto.com will be the official token supplier for the crypto ETFs, including Bitcoin, Cronos, and other “Made in America” tokens.

Secondly, the upcoming zkEVM v26 mainnet upgrade for Cronos on Wednesday also fuels its rally. This upgrade will introduce Smart Account SSO, simplifying logins with Google, Apple ID, or email. No seed phrases or private keys are required. It will also lay the foundation for the ZK Gateway, setting the stage for fast ZK-chains interoperability.

Cronos Price Forecast: CRO bulls aim for $0.133 mark

Cronos’s price broke above its descending trendline (drawn by connecting multiple highs since early December) on March 6 but faced resistance around its daily level of $0.089. However, CRO broke and closed above its $0.089 resistance on Monday and rallied 17.54%. At the time of writing on Tuesday, it continues to trade higher by 17%, around $0.11

If CRO continues its upward trend and closes above the $0.108 weekly resistance level, it could extend the rally to retest its January 31 high of $0.133.

The RSI on the daily chart reads 71, above its overbought level of 70, and points upward, indicating strong bullish momentum. However, traders should be cautious as the RSI reaches its overbought conditions, as the chances of a pullback are high. Another possibility is that the RSI maintains its level above 70 and continues to rally.

CRO/USDT daily chart

Cronos’s Open Interest (OI) further supports the bullish outlook—Coinglass’s data shows that the futures’ OI in CRO at exchanges rose from $21.49 on Monday to $39.19 million on Tuesday, the highest level since January 22. An increasing OI represents new or additional money entering the market and new buying, which suggests a rally ahead in the CRO price.

CRO open interest chart. Source: Coinglass