Ether Just Erased Four Months Of Losses. Now $2,465 Is The Level To Watch.

Ether has wiped out roughly four months of losses after a sharp rally carried the world's second-largest cryptocurrency back toward its April high, but traders are now watching whether it can break through resistance around $2,465.

The token climbed 31% from trough to peak last week and came close to the April monthly high of $2,464.54 before pulling back, according to Reuters, which cited LSEG data. The rebound followed a steep decline over the past year that had erased nearly 70% of ether's value.

A major catalyst came from the U.S. bond market, where the Treasury Department said on Aug. 19 that it would at least double the size of liquidity-support buybacks for longer-dated government debt. The maximum size of operations covering 10- to 30-year securities will increase from $2 billion to at least $4 billion starting Sept. 9 and remain at that level through the current refunding quarter.

The announcement pushed longer-term Treasury yields lower and weighed on the dollar, helping fuel a rally across cryptocurrencies. CoinDesk reported that bitcoin posted its second-best weekly performance since early 2021, while ether gained more than 30% during the same period as investors returned to digital assets.

Ether's rapid advance has left the token close to a technical level that could determine its next move. Reuters analyst Christopher Romano said resistance around the April high could keep the cryptocurrency trading between roughly $2,200 and $2,450 while investors digest the recent gains. Ether's daily Relative Strength Index has also moved into overbought territory, indicating that some traders who bought earlier in the rally may be taking profits.

A sustained break above $2,464.54 could put the $2,775-to-$2,825 range in focus, followed by $3,040-to-$3,070 and potentially $3,400-to-$3,450, according to the Reuters technical analysis. A decline below $2,200, however, would weaken that bullish technical setup.

Fresh money has also been moving into U.S. spot ether exchange-traded funds during the rebound. Data from Farside Investors showed the funds recorded $71.4 million in net inflows on Aug. 18, followed by $186.8 million on Aug. 19 and another $219.5 million on Aug. 20, taking the three-day total to nearly $478 million.

Ether has also been gaining ground against bitcoin. CoinDesk reported Monday that the ETH-to-bitcoin ratio recently formed a "golden cross," a technical pattern created when a shorter-term moving average rises above a longer-term one. The ratio was around 0.0318 on Monday, up from roughly 0.0276 a week earlier.

The Treasury's expanded long-end buybacks are scheduled to begin Sept. 9, with the larger operations remaining in place through Nov. 4.