Ethereum counting hours to Constantinople upgrade: ETH/USD lull could last longer

The much-awaited Ethereum network upgrade is expected to occur today. The upgrades are to be implemented via a hard fork and include the Constantinople and St. Petersburg. Both of these upgrades are expected to take place at Ethereum block 7,280,000.

It is essential to know that the Constantinople has been designed to work as a ‘maintenance and optimization update.” The changes it will bring on board are geared towards the implementation of Ethereum 2.0 while some will directly affect the miners. Miners expect to see block reward reduced from three ETH to only two ETH. An earlier update had reduced the block reward from 5 ETH to the current 3 ETH.

Users will be allowed to follow the upgrade live from around 19:30 (UTC). They can also watch it live using the Fork Monitor tool. The above mentioned time is approximated because the exact time depends on the speed of Ethereum block mining.

Ethereum price technical picture

Ethereum has fallen into slumber moments before the hard fork. The trading this week saw ETH/USD consolidate losses following the fall on Sunday 24. Ethereum dipped further to the support at $130 yesterday before recovery towards $140. The asset is currently between the 50-day Simple Moving Average (SMA) 1-hour chart; offering support and the 100-day SMA capping gains at $139.11. Ethereum is inclined to remain in the sideways trend as long as the Relative Strength Index (RSI) stays in the horizontal position. A correction has to be made above $140 Ethereum to sustain an uptrend to higher levels.