Ethereum's native token Ether (ETH) slumped on June 16, suggesting that its relief rally coinciding with the Federal Reserve announcing it will hike the benchmark rate by 0.75%, is at risk.
Ether's price slipped by 9.2% to around $1,120 per token a day after it rebounded by 23% after dropping to almost $1,000, its worst level since January 2021.
The ETH/USD pair's upside move, followed by a sharp correction, appeared in tandem with U.S. stocks, confirming that it traded like a risk-asset.
The decline means that Ether has shed 77% of its value since November 2021 and is now trading below its "realized price" of $1,740, data from Glassnode shows.
In addition, a higher interest rate environment adds more selling pressure, with investors leaving high-risk trades and seeking safety in traditional hedging assets, such as cash.
Investors' faith in cryptocurrencies has also eroded following the collapse of Terra, a $40 billion algorithmic stablecoin project, and lending platform Celsius Network's decision to halt withdrawals.
Atop that, Three Arrow Capital, a crypto hedge fund that oversaw nearly $10 billion in May 2022, reportedly faces insolvency risks. Fears about systemic risks have further limited the crypto market's recovery bias, hurting Ether.
ALERT: 3AC $250 Million $ETH Position Will Be Liquidated at ≈1000
From a technical perspective, Ether's recent gains look like a bear market rally, which could be due to investors covering their short trades.
In detail, investors close their short positions by buying the underlying asset back on the market—typically at a price lesser than the one at the time of borrowing—and returning them to the lender. That prompts the asset to rally between large downside moves, but it does not
Read more on cointelegraph.com