The Ethereum network went live in July 2015, six years ago this week. By September 7, its price was reported at USD 1.24, and on June 17, 2016 it marked its first noteworthy peak at $22. This was the first wave of a five-wave sequence that culminated on January 13, 2018 in a major peak just pennies short of USD 1420.
This $1420 peak and the all-time-high (ATH) of circa $4383 in May 2021 dominate the entire chart of Ethereum to date. They may be considered waves one and three, respectively, of Primary Degree of a five-wave sequence that is expected to be complete by the end of 2021 or early 2022 to form the first wave of Cycle Degree of the second largest crypto market.
Assigning Elliott Wave Primary Degree wave 1 and wave 3 to the existing peaks of the chart provides convenient labeling of waves down to Submicro Degree and even Minuscule Degree on one-minute-bar charts. It also provides a multi-decade period of growth in Cycle Degree. The Primary Degree waves are indicated in the chart by encircled green numerals as the largest waves, and are written in text as ((1)) through ((5)).
The correction in Primary ((2)) from the peak of ((1)) took essentially the remainder of the entire year of 2018, until in January 2019 a first wave in Minor Degree (simple black numerals) developed that by mid-year had formed a first wave in Intermediate Degree, whose five-wave completion yielded the ATH in May 2021.
On May 19, 2021, crypto markets crashed sharply, following its leader Bitcoin. In a matter of a few days, Ethereum collapsed from about $4384 to about $1728, according to the shown data source (Coinbase), a loss of about 60% of market cap. Following the initial sharp drop, a mostly sideways corrective trading period developed for exactly two months, that overall has the typical shape of a descending triangle with a flat, almost horizontal bottom trend line. The deviation from being perfectly horizontal is merely a matter of a few dollars. The entire correction was supported by the 23.6% Fibonacci retracement of Primary wave ((3)), at about $1710, in confluence with the price range of the prior fourth-wave correction in lesser degree (Intermediate) of February 2021, designated in the chart ((iv)). This is also a typical guide line in Elliott Wave practice. The shape of this correction, as a triangle, which is considered a complex structure, is also supported by the Elliott guideline of alternation. It can be seen that wave ((1)) corrected in ((2)) as a simple A-B-C sequence that can be described as a zig-zag, consisting of two five-wave legs, (A) and (C), and the enjoining three-wave (B).
Internally, the descending triangle is also well described by the Elliott Wave triangle correction, a five-wave sequence of corrective waves (three-wave structures), designated in Intermediate Degree as (A) through (E) in red color. The end of wave (E) also constitutes the end of wave ((4)) in Primary Degree, and the end of this correction. After completion of wave (E), Ethereum prices swiftly spiked during the weekend of July 24-25 in an extended sequence of waves to the $2400 territory, that was also fueled by speculation that Amazon is developing a cryptocurrency strategy.
The only defect of the assignment of a contracting triangle is that Elliott prescribed that wave (C) should not exceed the end of wave (A), but in this instance, it was only by a few dollars.
Following the completion of the triangle and Primary wave ((4)), Ethereum is set to proceed in wave ((3)) to new highs in the coming months. The price target for this may be tentatively projected with Fibonacci guidelines, and is shown in the chart, when dragging the chart just slightly left. Estimates range from about $5800 for the 1.618 extension, to over $12000 for the 2.618 extension.
Fibonacci analysis also provides a rational basis for the assignment of other waves in this chart. Especially, the current ATH of $4384 is well supported by a confluence of Fibonacci ratios of 4227 by 1.272 of ((1)), 2.618 (3737) of (1), and the 5.0 extension ($4266) of wave (1) from (3), all as shown in the chart.