The cryptocurrency market has continued its positive performance this week as BTC and others rally higher.
The cryptocurrency market has done well over the past few hours. The total cryptocurrency market cap remains above the $1 trillion mark, with the broader market adding more than 2% to its value in the past 24 hours.
Bitcoin maintains its price above the $22k resistance level and is up by more than 10% in the last seven days. Ether finally crossed the $1,500 psychological level after adding more than 5% to its value in the last 24 hours.
However, ETC, the native token of the Ethereum Classic blockchain, is the top performer among the top 50 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. ETC is up over 19% in the past 24 hours, outpacing the broader cryptocurrency market.
The rally is probably fueled by the upcoming Ethereum Merge. The merge event will see Ethereum completely migrate to a proof of stake protocol. The Ethereum developers could implement the Merge within September.
If this happens, miners on the Ethereum network could migrate to Ethereum Classic because ETC still uses a proof-of-work protocol.
Key levels to watch
The ETC/USD 4-hour chart is bullish as Ethereum Classic has been performing excellently over the past few days.
The MACD line moved into the positive zone over the weekend and held there, indicating bullish momentum.
The 14-day relative strength index of 88 shows that ETC is currently in the overbought region.
At press time, ETC is trading at $25. A prolonged rally over the next 24 hours could see ETC breach the $30 resistance level. However, it would need support from the broader cryptocurrency market to hit $35 for the first time since April 2022.
If the bears take control of the market, ETC could lose its support level at $21 over the next few hours. However, ETC should comfortably defend its position above the $17 support level in the short term.
