Trader says ETH bears are making a ‘mistake’ despite ETH/BTC six-week slide

Ether — the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization — has fallen 18% against Bitcoin over the last six weeks, but traders warn against writing off the asset known as ”the world computer.”

“Being bearish on Ethereum now is a mistake,” crypto trader Merlijin The Trader told his 378,200 X followers in a Jan. 16 X post.

Ether’s momentum is ‘undeniable’

“The momentum is undeniable, and the next move is coming,” Merlijin said.

At the time of publication, the ETH/BTC ratio — which shows Ether’s ETH $3,381.49 relative strength to Bitcoin BTC $101,657  — is 0.0332, per TradingView data. The ratio is down 17.5% since Dec. 5, when Bitcoin tapped $100,000 for the first time in history.

The ETH/BTC ratio is 0.0332 at the time of publication. Source: TradingView

During the last bull market cycle ETH/BTC ratio bottomed out at a similar level of 0.03 in March 2021 before surging to 0.077 two months later. During the same period, Ether’s price increased 110%, reaching $3,817.

Ether may benefit from Bitcoin’s wider adoption

Others say that while most are looking at what US President-elect Donald Trump might do with Bitcoin after his inauguration, Ether could see second-hand benefits from Bitcoin’s broader adoption.

Apollo co-founder Thomas Fahrer said in a Jan. 16 X post if the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve rolls out after Trump takes office, it could push Bitcoin toward $1 million this cycle. He added it would also be bullish for Ether, with $4,000 “in play.”

Ether’s highest level over the past 12 months was $4,066, in March. Source: CoinMarketCap

Ether briefly retested the $4,000 level in December, a critical support level it needed to reach before it would be able to retest its all-time high of $4,878 from November 2021. 

However, it failed to hold and has since dropped below another key support at $3,500, now trading at $3,365.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin is back up above $100,000, trading at $100,947, after chopping above and below the level several times since first reaching it in December.

Some analysts are concerned that the Ethereum Merge isn’t playing out like market participants thought it would.

In a Jan. 16 X post, financial analyst Rajat Soni said that Ethereum “Was supposed to become deflationary” after the Merge in September 2022. However, Soni said the supply “is almost back” to where it was before the Merge happened.