Ethereum rallied with the rest of the crypto market, reaching above $1,500 to land at a new one-month high. As the market rallied, developers had roused from their slumber looking to take advantage of the renewed interest in the market. This saw the number of new smart contracts deployed on the network reach new 2022 highs.
Devs Bring The Heat
Through 2022, the number of new smart contracts being deployed on the Ethereum network had been on the decline. This decline is understandable given that the market had entered another stretched-out crypto winter and investors were no longer willing to take as many risks as they did back in 2021.
Developers had to shelve some of their projects as they waited for better market conditions to launch, which was provided by the market recovery. New smart contracts were deployed rapidly in the last week, leading to a new all-time high in 2022.
In this 7-day period, there have been more than 35,000 new Ethereum contracts deployed. The deployment rate of these new contracts has followed the market through its recovery. As prices are high, investors are more likely to put money into new projects. Hence the willingness of developers to put their contracts into the market.
New smart contracts surge | Source: CryptoQuant
Daily active addresses on the network also recorded an uptick during this time. It is up about 25% in the last week, although it is far from reaching its 2022 all-time high of 934,000 active addresses back in July. Accordingly, the transaction count also saw an increase during this time.
Can Ethereum Hold Up?
Even with the marked increase in activity on the network, it has not been enough to hold up the price of Ethereum. The digital asset which had reached a peak just below $1,600 on Thursday had begun to quickly shed its gains ahead of the opening of trading hours on Friday.
ETH price loses footing above $1,500 | Source: ETHUSD on TradingView.com
Ethereum had lost almost 4% of its value in the last 24 hours, which dragged its price down below $1,500. Support that had been mounting at this level had proven to not be sustainable and bears had broken through the barrier without much hassle.
Exchange inflows for the cryptocurrency are on the rise in the last day with a 0.5% increase. This indicates mounting sell pressure on the market. However, with outflows growing just as rapidly, Ethereum investors seem to be carrying out a balancing act at this junction.
The 50-day moving average points towards hold for ETH at this point. The next significant resistance level now lies at $1,570. As the market goes into the weekend which is always marked by low volatility, it is hard to pinpoint where the price could swing.
Featured image from The Coin Republic, chart from TradingView.com
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