Latest Ethereum price and analysis (ETH to USD)

Latest Ethereum price and analysis (ETH to USD)

Benzinga

Here we go again. Almost six months to the day after its broadside alleging fraudulent business practices at startup Nikola Motors (NASDAQ: NKLA), short seller Hindenburg Research is firing on electric pickup truck startup Lordstown Motors Corp. (NASDAQ: RIDE). Similar claims. Different details. Hindenburg was enormously successfully — and partially validated by Nikola’s own internal investigation finding that founder Trevor Milton misrepresented facts about Nikola’s technology and capabilities. A shadow yet hangs over Nikola as federal securities and criminal investigations continue. The Hindenburg report on Lordstown said: Customers who reserved hundreds of trucks from LMC have no intention of buying them. And were never told they had to take delivery. LMC is a “mirage” that paid outside consultants to pad the order numbers to increase investor confidence. Founder Steve Burns used unethical and deceptive business practices and untested components to make the electric commercial pickup truck called Endurance. And the report raises questions about how much technology the company has, just as Hindenburg did at Nikola. It cites specifics of a lawsuit alleging LMC stole at least some intellectual property and poached employees from another startup electric vehicle (EV) maker. ‘Half-truths and lies' Burns told The Wall Street Journal the Hindenburg report contained “half-truths and lies.” He said Hindenburg is trying to hurt the stock before the company reports its first quarterly update as a publicly traded entity next week. Burns did not return a call from FreightWaves. LMC operates a 55-year-old former General Motors (NYSE: GM) plant in northeast Ohio that the automaker closed in March 2019. GM essentially gave the massive 6.2-million-square-foot assembly complex to LMC in June. And it loaned Burns money for retooling. The moves ended critical tweets of GM by then-President Donald Trump;. He urged CEO Mary Barra to find a new product for the plant. It is located in the Mahoning Valley that overwhelmingly voted for Trump in the 2016 presidential election. GM also invested $25 million in cash in LMC. That is despite plans for its own full-size electric pickup. The automaker received 7.5 million shares of LMC stock at the closing last October of a business combination with special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Diamond Peak Holdings Corp. LMC stock craters Friday As Hindenburg intended, Lordstown stock dropped Friday. It closed down 16.54% at $14.78. Hindenburg specifically alleged: A 14,000-truck deal from E Squared Energy, supposedly representing $735 million in sales. E Squared is based out of a small residential apartment in Texas that doesn’t operate a vehicle fleet. A 1,000-truck, $52.5 million order from a two-person startup that operates out of a Regus virtual office with a UPS Store mailing address. Hindenburg said the owner acknowledged the “preorder” was primarily a marketing relationship. Former employees and litigation records reveal that Burns began paying consultants for every truck preorder as early as 2016. He was still CEO at Workhorse Group. LMC licensed the technology to build the Endurance electric pickup from Workhorse. Former employees also said the company has completed none of its needed testing or validation, including cold weather testing, durability testing and Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards testing required by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Since Lordstown went public in October 2020, executives and directors have sold about $28 million in stock. That includes $8 million in the month before public knowledge that LMC’s first test on public roads in January ended with the vehicle catching fire after 10 minutes. Burns confirmed LMC paid consultants to generate preorders, understood to be nonbinding as a way to assess market demand. He denied misrepresenting those as firm orders, though he told Yahoo Finance in January that LMC had “presold 100,000 electric pickup trucks.” Burns described the reservations as “very serious orders” when pressed by CNBC’s Jim Cramer. “We are not stating these are orders and have never stated that,” Burns told the WSJ on Friday. From Workhorse to Lordstown Burns' audacious play to take over Lordstown, which once built Chevrolet Cruze sedans on three shifts, played as a White Knight tale. With the plant closing and GM under political pressure ahead of contentious United Auto Workers (UAW) negotiations in late-summer 2019, offloading the plant was a no-brainer. Even backing a $40 million mortgage and retooling costs made sense. The UAW struck GM nationally for 40 days, costing the automaker about $2 billion. Ultimately, the UAW went along with the closing, clearing the way for Burns to start LMC. Burns went for months trying to find the estimated $300 million he would need to get a portion of the massive assembly complex up and running. Diamond Peak appeared on the scene as the SPAC with its investors' blank check just as the rush to merge with EV makers accelerated. Burns resigned as CEO of Workhorse in February 2019. On his way out, he was tasked by the board with selling his pet project, a two-seat vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft called the Surefly. Estimated by one Workhorse investor to be worth $50 million, the Surefly sold for $4 million. Workhorse gets a taste Even as he planned for the electric pickup, Burns and electric van maker Workhorse maintained ties. Workhorse licensed its electric pickup technology for a vehicle it lacked the resources to build to LMC in exchange for 10% equity and royalties on any of 6,000 Workhorse pickup orders LMC converted to Endurance sales. And if Workhorse won a U.S. Postal Service contract for Next Generation Delivery Vehicles — it didn’t — Lordstown would have been the contract manufacturer. Workhorse listed the value of its Lordstown stake at $330 million in its recent Q4 earnings. Hindenburg claims Burns was pushed out of Workhorse, which he founded in 2007 as AMP Electric. Current Workhorse CEO Duane Hughes did not deny in a March 2019 interview that Burns got a shove. Hughes and former Workhorse CEO James Taylor both regard Burns as a visionary unable to focus on a single project, like the Workhorse composite body electric van that floundered under his leadership. “He’s unencumbered by facts,” Taylor told FreightWaves in a recent interview. “Steve has a huge advantage that he doesn’t know what he doesn’t know. Now he’s jumped into the big leagues. And it’s a big advantage being an entrepreneur and being the cheerleader when you don’t know all the blood and guts and you just leave that to your guys.” Related articles: Lordstown Motors SPAC vote set amid unique business risks SPAC shareholders approve Lordstown Motors reverse merger Lordstown Motors says first-year electric pickup production sold out Click for more FreightWaves articles by Alan Adler. Latest Ratings for RIDE DateFirmActionFromTo Feb 2021Morgan StanleyInitiates Coverage OnUnderweight Jan 2021Wolfe ResearchUpgradesUnderperformPeer Perform Dec 2020R.F. Lafferty & Co. IncInitiates Coverage OnBuy View More Analyst Ratings for RIDE View the Latest Analyst Ratings See more from BenzingaClick here for options trades from BenzingaWorkhorse Electric Delivery Van Builds Lag As Backlog Swells© 2021 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

Ethereum price bound to dive below $1,500 before the uptrend resumes

Ethereum price action has taken on a bearish tone since March 10.

The Relative Strength Index (RSI) did not confirm the recent upward price action.

A double top is clear, but it may morph into a head-and-shoulders top.

Ethereum price confirmed a double top pattern before rebounding and shaping a hammer on the 12-hour chart below. The quick rebound raises the question of whether ETH is now shaping a head-and-shoulders top and is bound for further losses.

Ethereum price is visibly influenced by the bears

The RSI is around the 52 mark, indicating a balance between supply and demand. It also adds validity to the alternative bearish view that Ethereum price could now be shaping a head-and-shoulders top. A fall below the 50 levels will indicate that momentum is accelerating for a bearish impulse.

A renewal of downward pressure that takes ETH below the key support at $1,714 on a 12-hour closing basis will shape a right shoulder over the coming days before falling below the neckline around $1,695.

Immediate support is at the .382 retracement level ($1,661) followed by the .50 retracement level ($1,583). If selling accelerates Ethereum price may retest the February low at $1,293, forcing the bulls to rethink their forecasts for a rally to $10,000.

ETH/USD 12-hour chart

The line in the sand for the bearish forecast is a trade above $1,944. Both bearish alternatives would be negated and ETH price will easily test the all-time high at $2,041.42.

Should You Chase Ethereum Here Or Wait For A Pullback?

A retest of 1200+/-100 and then rally to new all-time highs.

As you can see, the weekly and monthly charts feature two different EWP wave-labels, but both point to higher prices (anticipated paths). The weekly chart’s EWP points to two more rallies (black major-5 and blue Primary-V) after an initial pullback (major-4) before this Bull run is over. Whereas the monthly chart suggests, we could see three more rallies (add purple Cycle 5). I always have an alternate (more Bullish) EWP count for Bull runs like ETH is in to ensure my Premium Crypto Trading Members do not miss out or get caught on the wrong side. The market will eventually tell me which one is correct: “anticipate, monitor, and adjust if necessary.”

What we do know, with all certainty, is that the weekly technical indicators (RSI5, MACD histogram, FSTO, and MFI14) are all negatively diverging (red squares). Although divergence is only divergence till it is not, it means ETH is now moving higher on less strength, less momentum, and less liquidity. The latter is essential because liquidity drives markets. If the buying dries up, only selling is left. However, ETH is well-above all its important Simple Moving Averages (SMAs), which are all rising and Bullishly stacked: 10w>20w>50w>200w). Thus this is still a 100% strong, Bull market.

The monthly chart is different as there are no negative divergences on the technical indicators. Instead, the RSI5 is getting very overbought, suggesting there’s less room for upside left over the next 1-2 months. See the 2017 rally for example. However, the monthly Money Flow is still strong, and so is the MACD. Only the FSTO is not in favor of more upside.

Nonetheless, also on the monthly chart, the SMA setup is 100% Bullish: ETH is well-above its rising SMAs, which are also Bullishly stacked: 10m>20m>50m. Thus, this is still a 100% robust, long-term Bull market. Hence, the one-degree higher EWP count compared to what is labeled on the weekly chart has merit.

Bottom line: ETH’s weekly and monthly charts are 100% Bullish and suggest plenty of upside left over the coming months to years. However, negative divergences are creeping in on the weekly chart suggesting a pullback is most likely imminent. A daily close below $1657 will be a severe warning that the $1200+/-100 level will be revisited to complete a more significant correction before ETH can move to new ATHs again.