ETHEREUM GAINS MOMENTUM AHEAD OF HARD FORK

The Ethereum token rose over the weekend, as prices made significant progress north of the $300 hurdle ahead of an expected hard fork on 16 October.

The ETH/USD climbed above $310 on Sunday before losing some of its momentum through the early part of Monday trading. The pair was last seen hovering just north of $305.00, according to Bitstamp. From the perspective of the RSI and MACD, further upward momentum is likely in the coming days.

At current prices, Ethereum has a total market cap of $29.1 billion, enough for second on the global cryptocurrency charts.

Ether’s bounce has been accompanied by a broader correction in the cryptocurrency market following last month’s violent selloff. Ethereum is also being pushed higher by optimism surrounding the forthcoming Byzantium fork, which is part of the long-awaited Metropolis software upgrade.

Byzantium will be initiated at block 4,370,000, which likely corresponds to 16 October. The network’s most popular client, Go Ethereum (Eth), has already announced its transition to the new protocol.