Ethereum Price Resistance: Traders Anxious Ahead of Shanghai Upgrade

• Ethereum price resistance at $1,750 reflects traders’ anxiety over the Shanghai upgrade.
• Operational failure of some smart contract blockchain competitors put a halt to Ether’s downward momentum.
• Regulatory environment remains shady despite positive news surrounding the successful hard fork of Sepolia testnet in preparation for the Shanghai upgrade.

Ethereum Price Resistance

The price of Ether (ETH) declined 9.8% between Feb. 19 and Feb. 25 after the price resistance at $1,725 proved stronger than expected. Still, the correction was insufficient to break the six-week-long ascending channel and did not cause Ether derivatives metrics to turn bearish. Holding gains above $1,750 remain a challenge for ETH, but derivatives data shows traders believe future downside moves will be limited to the most immediate price support.

Smart Contract Blockchain Competitors

Solana (SOL) faced a 20-hour-long outage on Feb. 25 which was only resolved after a network upgrade coordinated by validators. The network restart also involved purging some of the latest slots, although Solana developers said that “no confirmed user transactions were rolled back or impacted.” NEM (XEM) experienced a “chain halt” on Feb. 27 that lasted for 15 hours causing multiple exchanges to halt deposits and withdrawals, and developers promised to release an update to prevent further misbehavior.

Regulatory Environment

The regulatory environment remains shady for cryptocurrencies with global payment processing companies Visa and Mastercard delaying their launch of new partnerships with crypto companies until market conditions improve and a more transparent regulatory framework is established.

Shanghai Upgrade Preparations

In more positive news, Ethereum’s Sepolia testnet was successfully hard forked on Feb 28 in preparation for the Shanghai upgrade – much anticipated mainnet update expected for March which should finally allow validators to withdraw their staked Ether from Beacon Chain – prepping Goerli testnet to enter similar stage as well..

Derivatives Data Analysis

Let’s look at Ether derivatives data to understand if the $1,560 support retest on Feb 25 has impacted crypto investors’ sentiment: ETH futures show increased demand for leverage longs; annualized two-month futures premium should trade around 0%; liquidation engines appear less active; open interest is declining steadily; options markets indicate upside potential capped at $1,800 with strong support near this level as well; implied volatility also suggests investor sentiment is neutral rather than bearish towards ETH prices ahead of Shanghai Upgrade mainnet launch..