After a week of sideways movement, the price of Ethereum (ETH) is finally moving. Over the past hour, the second-largest cryptocurrency has surged 5% to retest the key $3,200 level. Some market observers believe that ETH will soon reach its first quarter highs and begin an alternative season.

Ethereum retests key support level

Ethereum has been heavily criticized for its performance against Bitcoin (BTC), with investors fearing that ETH may not reach recent highs this cycle. ETH price action has moved sideways as the flagship cryptocurrency continues price discovery mode.

On Thursday morning, BTC approached the $100,000 level after hitting a recent all-time high (ATH) above $98,000, while ETH continued to hover in the mid-zone of the weekly price range of $3,000 to $3,200.

However, Ethereum has seen a remarkable 5% pump, reaching above $3,200 in the last hour. The second-largest cryptocurrency rose above $3,200 a week ago for the first time in over three months, reaching $3,400 before retreating 5%.

Over the past week, ETH has tried to reclaim the $3,200 resistance as support, but has failed to do so twice. Today, the cryptocurrency’s surge pushed its price beyond key resistance towards the mid-range of the $3,300 zone, reigniting bullish sentiment for Ethereum.

Crypto Yapper Analyst he stated that the $3,200 price is the “next big break” for Ethereum, as it was a major rejection point last week. The analyst emphasized that after the ETH consolidation, the next move was to retest this level, which, if successfully recovered, could result in the cryptocurrency breaking out towards the $3,500 level.

However, if this resistance fails to turn into support, ETH price will likely lose the $3,000-$3,100 support and move towards the $2,600 level, the main breakout resistance this month, before attempting to reach $3,500.

ETH’s breakout started an alternative season

Rekt Capital cryptocurrency analyst excellent that ETH is breaking out from a short-term bull flag today. According to the post, the altcoin king broke out of a three-week bull flag formation after breaching $3,200. Confirmation of the breakout “would result in ETH moving back to $3,700 above,” the analyst predicted.

Similarly, cryptocurrency analyst Zayk he noticed that the cryptocurrency exhibited a two-week bullish pennant pattern on the 4H timeframe. A successful break from the bullish pattern above the $3,200 level could lead to a 15% upside to $3,700.

Cryptocurrency trader Daan he stated that investors should wait to see if Ethereum’s current momentum continues. However, he believes that the next boost for ETH/BTC “will likely have legs and go into appropriate relief.”

This round could push the ETH/BTC trading pair back to the 0.04 level it was trading at two weeks ago. The move would represent a 20% upside from current levels, which “should absolutely shake up the entire altcoin market and decently reduce BTC’s dominance.”

As of this writing, ETH is trading above $3,350, trading 2% below last week’s high.

Featured image from Unsplash.com, chart from TradingView.com