The first day of the week has proven quite beneficial to digital currencies, as both the Bitcoin and Ethereum prices have increased. Bitcoin has reached a new all-time high of US$6,306, while Ether surpassed the US$300 threshold and is currently trading at US$309.39 on GDAX.
Following the Byzantium hard fork affecting the Ethereum network, miners have received a difficulty adjustment, but have also lost part of their block reward, which is now 3 ETH rather than 5 ETH. Reports indicate that the adjustments were needed to help combat the inflationary curve associated with the network, while also preparing the Proof-of-Stake protocol that will be adopted in the future.
When looking at the Ethereum charts, we can observe a bullish trend that is forming in support of the US$300 threshold. However, the ETH price went no higher than US$309, thus exhibiting resistance at that level. Shortly thereafter, the markets witnessed a rejection, as the price once again began correcting toward lower values of roughly US$300-$302.
Analysts believe that another price increase will be possible once ETH breaks the US$309 resistance and the price no longer corrects to lower values. However, the fact that the price managed to reach US$309.73 not long ago indicates that a break in the resistance is possible in the coming days, with longer-term price increases foreseeable in the near future.
At the time of writing, Ethereum has a market capitalization of over US$29 billion, second to that of Bitcoin which is currently situated at US$102 billion.
