Ethereum hits new ATH after Altair upgrade shows clear path to the merge
The price of ETH has been on a bullish tear recently. After dropping to around $1,780 on July 21, it has since gained 147% to sit at around $4,400. The price of Ether (ETH) has bounced to a new all-time high (ATH) on Friday as it hit $4,400.97 at around 1:02 am UTC, according to the ETH/USD price indexes on Coinbase and CoinMarketCap. At the time of writing, ETH is currently priced at $4,380, with the asset surging around 46.6% since the start of October. CoinMarketCap’s price index indicates that the previous ATH was only eight days ago, with the asset reaching a price of $4,308.48 on Oct. 21.
ETH has been on a bullish tear since dropping to around $1,780 on July 21 and has since gained 147% to rise to a new point of price discovery.
Cointelegraph reported on Thursday that the Ethereum 2.0 Altair Beacon Chain update had a successful start, with 98.7% of the nodes upgraded at the time. A successful Altair upgrade to the Beacon Chain was seen as an important factor clearing the way to the merge with the Ethereum mainnet and the transition to a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism in Ethereum 2.0.
Ethereum’s success is also being driven by the platform’s use in the booming decentralized finance and nonfungible token sectors. They highlight ongoing rising demand for Ether in the future, thus ensuring additional tailwinds to its bullish outlook in Q4 2021 and possibly into 2022. Since July, Ethereum has also undergone important upgrades, such as the London hard fork that introduced a deflationary burning mechanism to the asset as part of the network’s fee structure.
The overall market sentiment in crypto has also been positive of late, with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission approving multiple Bitcoin futures-based exchange-traded funds to launch on the New York Stock Exchange. Bitcoin (BTC) hit new all-time high prices in the wake of the news.
Top Cryptocurrencies with Price Predictions
| # | Crypto | Prediction | Accuracy | CVIX | Price | 24h | 7d | Market Cap | 7d price change | |
| 1 |  BTC |
Bitcoin predictions | 93.2% | 3 | $26 578.13 | 1.46% | -1.21% | $515 523 852 307 |  |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 |  ETH |
Ethereum predictions | 90.8% | 1 | $1 851.65 | 1.45% | -0.94% | $222 625 164 413 |  |
|
| 3 |  USDT |
Tether predictions | 91.2% | 1 | $1.000135 | 0.02% | 0% | $83 312 701 560 |  |
|
| 4 |  BNB |
Binance Coin predictions | 90.4% | 11 | $263.30 | 1.73% | -13.80% | $41 036 442 955 |  |
|
| 5 |  USDC |
USD Coin predictions | 91.6% | 1 | $0.999980 | 0.01% | 0.03% | $28 439 686 561 |  |
|
| 6 |  XRP |
XRP predictions | 70% | 56 | $0.525411 | 1.38% | 3.20% | $27 314 551 970 |  |
|
| 7 |  ADA |
Cardano predictions | 92.4% | 7 | $0.323589 | 0.63% | -11.72% | $11 293 739 388 |  |
|
| 8 |  STETH |
Lido stETH predictions | 92% | 1 | $2 941.39 | -0.40% | -3.32% | $10 258 752 564 |  |
|
| 9 |  DOGE |
Dogecoin predictions | 90.4% | 8 | $0.067802 | 1.05% | -5.51% | $9 471 068 578 |  |
|
| 10 |  WTRX |
Wrapped TRON predictions | 71.2% | 51 | $0.077563 | 0.87% | 3.14% | $7 886 264 204 |  |
|
| 11 |  SOL |
Solana predictions | 84.8% | 16 | $18.90 | 1.09% | -8.24% | $7 526 603 562 |  |
|
| 12 |  MATIC |
Polygon predictions | 89.2% | 16 | $0.780049 | 1.87% | -12.35% | $7 246 243 263 |  |
|
| 13 |  TRX |
TRON predictions | 74.8% | 49 | $0.077629 | 1.27% | 3.65% | $6 997 511 849 |  |
|
| 14 |  LTC |
Litecoin predictions | 81.6% | 38 | $88.46 | -0.35% | -6.33% | $6 466 841 922 |  |
|
| 15 |  DOT |
Polkadot predictions | 94% | 6 | $5.03 | 0.42% | -3.75% | $5 993 939 800 |  |
