After several months of bullishness and 2000% gains, the Ethereum markets are in potential bear territory.The price of ether went from $1 to $20 over the span of 6 months and it’s not realistic to think a market can stay bullish forever.The price of ether was coiling up inside a 6 month triangle until a major trendline broke with a panic sell-off.The breakdown of support happened on the night of the DAO hack.Someone managed to exploit a vulnerability in an Ethereum smart contract holding over $150M worth of ether.Looking at the charts we can see a clear double top with a breakdown of two key support levels.If not for the hack, it’s possible that the price of ether may have continued trending along that line, coiling up for another breakout.Right now the ether markets are in limbo hovering mid-range just below the previous trendline.Prior support is now resistance.The ether markets were downtrending on the breakdown of a head and shoulders until the DAO ICO propped up the price by removing 15% of the supply off the markets.

The DAO was showing strong signs of a pre-market bubble and I warned people several times in previous articles that it was likely not a good investment.ICOs that have too many people priced in pre-market have a higher probability of losing value on the exchanges.Ether fever was likely the main driving force behind the ICO bubble of making easy money.The Ethereum community is looking to hard fork the blockchain and return all the DAO’s ether funds back to the investors.Once DAO investors are reimbursed there will be a flood of new ether available on the open markets.Unless these new ether are used for margin longs it can only translate into holding or selling pressure on the exchanges.Given that the price is having difficultly moving back up above the previous trendline these new coins may push prices down even more.There’s been a heated debate within the Ethereum community about forking the code to reimburse investors.We don’t know how that will impact Ethereum in the long term but it’s likely that some investors who disagree may have sold their holdings.

According to this spreadsheet the current ether inflation rate is around 17%.This is more potential selling pressure on the markets.The DAO hack was Ethereum’s first major crises and it could take some time to recover from it.Bitcoin suffered a slow bear trend following the Mt.Gox hack.The main value proposition of smart contacts governed by code rather than political whims is being called into question.Although I’m bearish it’s always good to look at both possible scenarios.bitcoin bowl hotelsThe price is still mid range and a break above the prior trendline could signal a recovery.bitcoin create raw transactionA bear trend will test the longevity of ether and determine its fate if it stays a dominant #2 or fade away as just another altcoin.ethereum dollar conversion

Personally I think Ethereum is still a solid #2 because it has liquidity and is a trendsetter for innovation.In the event of a bear trend I would look to accumulate during a period of long consolidation.This would be the first stage of a new bull market.About Latest Posts Latest posts by Rocky (see all) Bitcoin and Cryptocurrencies for Beginners 3 Things You Should Know if You’re New to Bitcoin Cofoundit Aims to Help Blockchain Startups Raise Capitallitecoin gpu mining 2017ETH (Ethereum) bear market ended and it's in a roaring bull market again.bitcoin neutralityHope Synereo is taking advantage of this amazing snowball effect Ethereum currently is experiencing.remove bitcoin-qtBuild it on Ethereum and Synereo has the best chance to succeed and make us all rich!(self.Synereo)Some links about the recent Ethereum Enterprice Alliance launch from yesterday!

Big banks and Fortune 500 are betting on Ethereum and no other platform!Synereo.... go for it as well!Bear whales put up walls yesterday.1,000 eth, 2,000 eth, flat-lining the price around $260, with charts showing no price movement as bears staked their claim.Bots were left with nothing to do, tapping their fingers, while bulls were watching.They paused, regrouped, went to and fro, then charged straight towards the wall, knocking it down, sending bears running.But bears were not going to give up that easily.They gave some grounds, prepared their barricades, called in air cover, called in reserves, and at $280 they went to war.All whales took part.No bull or bear could be spared.Alerts went out everywhere.The great battle was underway as bulls and bears went head to head with not one cent between them.The bulls won it, the bulls won it.The wall is down, the wall is down, $291… 2… 3… 4… 5… Bears are now making their final stand at $300 in one of the most monumental bull bear battle as ethereum’s bullish run continues day after day with price rising by nearly $50 just since yesterday.

The Global Blockchain Conference is to start in China this Wednesday where there are rumors some more Ethereum alliance members may be announced following 86 household names which joined last month, including Toyota, Samsung, DTCC and many others.The sentiment overall is very bullish as ethereum becomes the standard for private blockchain projects by multinationals and even governments.Bankers, too, now think public blockchains, like ethereum, will gain greater prominence in the next five years.Interestingly, more of them think public blockchains will do so (86%), than think private blockchains will (80%).It is only a 6% difference, but this apparent seismic change in attitude by bankers is somewhat unexpected at this stage.So bulls are on the run, but can bears hold $300?They might run away quicker than we can say, or they might give it all they’ve got as the battle for $300 eth continues.by Tyler Durden The price of Bitcoin accelerated its recent exponential trend higher, soaring to daily all-time highs over the past few days, rising above $1,300 on Friday, then pushing $1,400 on Monday, and even above $1,500 on the second-largest BTC exchange, and was last trading just above $1,460 on Coinbase amid a buying frenzy attributed to speculative investment across the cryptocurrency sector, coupled with liquidity problem at some exchanges which were having problems processing fiat-based transactions.

Assuming a price of $1,400 - which is a rough estimate as there has been a wide discrepancy across the exchanges over the past week - would make bitcoin one of the best performing currencies, or assets - depending on one's view - of the year.Bitcoinhas never traded above $1,300, $1,400, or $1,500 before Friday.On the Hong Kong-based exchange Bitfinex, the second-largest cryptocurrency exchange, the price rose as high as $1,548.On CoinDesk, the price crossed $1,400 on Monday, and traded as high as $1,422.As the WSJ's Paul Vigna observes, "Bitcoin has been struggling with a seemingly intractable internecine debate over network scaling, while similar projects have been drawing talent and investment dollars.But the price in 2017 has been generally rising, and rising sharply, amid a confluence of factors.Not all of the factors, ultimately, may turn out to be positive."For now however, holders of bitcoin, as well as various other cryptocurrencies have been rejoicing at the move higher, expressing little concern about the possible negative implications.

“The space is definitely seeing more traction,” Charles Hayter, CEO of research site CryptoCompare.He pointed out, however, that a “mixed bag of reasons” was behind the weekend surge.One reason is a surge of investing across cryptocurrencies.Another are withdrawal problems plaguing specific exchanges, with liquidity drying up and supply-and-demand factors forcing the price higher.In addition to Bitcoin, ethereum, ripple, and other established cryptocurrencies have all soared in the past week amid a new trend, called the initial coin offering, or ICO,  that has been growing in the sector.In an ICO, a startup issues its own bitcoin-like asset, either as a straight-ahead investment or as a token for use with a service or product offering.There have been dozens of new coins minted and offered for sale, the WSJ notes.Putting bitcoin's recent gains in the dust has been Ethereum, the leading bitcoin alternative, which traded above $80 on Monday, rising more than fourfold from under $20 as recently as the beginning of March.

Even an alternative version of Ethereum called Ethereum Classic has been rising.On March 1, it traded at $1.29.On Monday, it was trading at $6.59.Ethereum has a more direct connection to the ICO trend than bitcoin, since many of the firms issuing these new coins are building products and services on the Ethereum network.In addition to ICO, another catalyst cited for the move higher is "plain old supply and demand."While unclear if the result of a regulatory crackdown seen recently in Chinese-based exchanges, Hong-Kong based Bitfinex and some other crypto exchanges in the industry "have been dealing with liquidity and withdrawal issues the past few weeks."Specifically, Bitfinex had trouble processing transactions after the Taiwanese banks that handle them started blocking requests.That’s part of a trend where some banks are pulling out of sectors they deem risky.While we will have a more comprehensive writeup on the recent troubles at Bitfinex, a representative from the xchange confirmed to the WSJ that the inability of investors to withdraw bitcoin is affecting the price.

Perversely, instead of forcing the price of bitcoin lower, the liquidity squeeze is forcing traders to offer higher bids to get their bitcoin out, which is subsequently forcing the price up.“This is not healthy,” said Vinny Lingham, CEO of bitcoin-based startup Civic and a high-profile trader.For now, however, just like in the stock market, traders - at least those who are long the various cryptocurrencies - are happy with the move higher.If and when structural problems emerge, and the price tumbles, it may be a different story, although that may not take place for a while, because as the Nikkei reports, more than 10 Japanese companies are launching exchanges for bitcoin and other virtual currencies, with an eye to tap growing demand after legal changes that make such trades cheaper and easier in the country.As discussed previously, starting July, Japan's consumption tax will no longer apply to purchases of virtual currencies.Exchanges in Japan have also been required since April to obtain a special license, which has requirements for finances and asset management structures, from the Finance Ministry.