The profitability of Ethereum cryptocurrency mining has halved in a week
There’s good news and bad news for gamers this week as the price of Ethereum has plunged, sending the profitability of the cryptocurrency favoured by GPU miners sharply down. The bad news is that even with a significant reduction in value, Ethereum remains a highly profitable crypto to hold onto and continue to mine.
The value of Ether, the actual currency of the Ethereum blockchain, is creeping back up and over $1,600 USD at the time of writing, a little bounce from a plunge under $1,400, and still down on February highs of over $2,000—a recent peak in the crypto’s value.
Ether price in USD vs. Ethereum mining profitability (Image credit: BitInfoCharts)
The value of Ether is likely to change considerably over the course of the next few hours, weeks, months, however—you really never know with most cryptocurrencies where they’re going to be in a week’s time, and they remain as volatile an investment as ever.
That plunge has seemingly had a larger impact on the profitability of the coin, however. More so than its value, too. That could be due to an increase in difficulty, an artificial limit on hash generation tied to the current overall hashrate of active miners.
The profitability of Ethereum mining, while on the rise slightly, has halved between February 23 and March 3 (via BitInfoCharts ).
Although even while shaving of all that value in just a few days, there’s still money to be made. And just like the value of Ether, profitability is gradually on the rise once more.
We’ve no idea where Ether will end up by 2022, but for now, it’s still profitable enough to keep GPUs in high demand.
The ongoing surge in cryptocurrency pricing has seen a resurgence of GPU mining activity in 2021, which has further exacerbated a shortage of graphics cards.
Ethereum, Litecoin, and Ripple’s XRP – Daily Tech Analysis – March 3rd, 2021
Ethereum
Ethereum slid by 5.31% on Tuesday. Partially reversing a 10.55% rally from Monday, Ethereum ended the day at $1,488.34.
A mixed start to the day saw Ethereum rise to an early morning intraday high $1,605.89 before hitting reverse.
While falling short of the first major resistance level at $1,627, Ethereum broke through the 23.6% FIB of $1,579.
The reversal saw Ethereum slide to a late intraday low $1,455.86.
The sell-off saw Ethereum fall through the 23.6% FIB and the first major support level at $1,465.
Finding late support, Ethereum moved back through the first major support level to reduce the deficit on the day.
At the time of writing, Ethereum was down by 0.44% to $1,481.85. A mixed start to the day saw Ethereum rise to an early morning high $1,489.04 before falling to a low $1,480.27.
Ethereum left the major support and resistance levels untested early on.
For the day ahead
Ethereum would need to move through the pivot level at $1,517 to support a run at the first major resistance level at $1,578 and the 23.6% FIB of $1,579.
Support from the broader market would be needed, however, for Ethereum to break back through to $1,570 levels.
Barring an extended crypto rally, the first major resistance level and the 23.6% FIB would likely cap any upside.
In the event of another breakout, Ethereum could test the second major resistance level at $1,667 and resistance at $1,700.
Failure to move through the $1,517 pivot would bring the first major support level at $1,428 into play.
Barring an extended sell-off, however, Ethereum should steer clear of sub-$1,400 levels. The second major support level sits at $1,367.
Looking at the Technical Indicators
First Major Support Level: $1,428
Pivot Level: $1,517
First Major Resistance Level: $1,578
23.6% FIB Retracement Level: $1,579
38.2% FIB Retracement Level: $1,292
62% FIB Retracement Level: $830
Litecoin
Litecoin rose by 1.80% on Tuesday. Following on from a 6.30% rally on Monday, Litecoin ended the day at $179.25.
Story continues
It was a mixed start to the day. Litecoin fell to a mid-morning low $171.13 before making a move.
Steering clear of the first major support level at $167, Litecoin rallied to an early afternoon intraday high $185.48.
Litecoin broke through the first major resistance level at $180.71 before hitting reverse.
Coming up against the second major resistance level at $185.40, Litecoin slid to a late intraday low $170.70.
Continuing to steer clear of the first major support level at $167, however, Litecoin moved back through to $179 to end the day in the green.
At the time of writing, Litecoin was down by 0.79% to $177.84. A bearish start to the day saw Litecoin fall from an early morning high $179.29 to a low $177.62.
Litecoin left the major support and resistance levels untested early on.
For the day ahead
Litecoin would need to move back through the $179 pivot level to support a run at the first major resistance level at $186.
Support from the broader market would be needed, however, for Litecoin to break back through to $180 levels.
Barring an extended crypto rally, the first major resistance level and Tuesday’s high $185.48 would likely cap any upside.
In the event of an extended breakout, Litecoin could test resistance at the 23.6% FIB of $195. The second major resistance level sits at $193.
Failure to move back through the $179 pivot level would bring the first major support level at $172 into play.
Barring an extended sell-off, Litecoin should steer clear of sub-$160 levels. The second major support level at $164 and the 38.2% FIB of $163 should limit the downside.
Looking at the Technical Indicators
First Major Support Level: $172
Pivot Level: $179
First Major Resistance Level: $186
23.6% FIB Retracement Level: $195
38.2% FIB Retracement Level: $163
62% FIB Retracement Level: $110
Ripple’s XRP
Ripple’s XRP fell by 2.24% on Tuesday. Partially reversing a 7.04% rally from Monday, Ripple’s XRP ended the day at $0.43624.
A bullish start to the day saw Ripple’s XRP rise to an early morning intraday high $0.45574 before hitting reverse.
Falling short of the first major resistance level at $0.4624, Ripple’s XRP slid to a late afternoon intraday low $0.42228.
Steering clear of the first major support level at $0.4213, Ripple’s XRP moved back through to $0.436 levels to reduce the deficit.
At the time of writing, Ripple’s XRP was down by 0.80% to $0.43277. A bearish start to the day saw Ripple’s XRP fall from an early morning high $0.43638 to a low $0.43277.
Ripple’s XRP left the major support and resistance levels untested early on.
For the day ahead
Ripple’s XRP will need to move through the $0.4381 pivot level to bring the first major resistance level at $0.4539 into play.
Support from the broader market would be needed, however, for Ripple’s XRP to break back through to $0.45 levels.
Barring an extended crypto rally, the first major resistance level and Tuesday’s high $0.45574 would cap any upside.
In the event of an extended rally, Ripple’s XRP could test resistance at the 38.2% FIB of $0.4632 and resistance at $0.47. The second major resistance level sits at $0.4715.
Failure to move through the $0.4381 pivot would bring the first major support level at $0.4204 into play.
Barring another extended sell-off, however, Ripple’s XRP should steer clear of sub-$0.40 levels. The second major support level at $0.4046 should limit the downside.
Looking at the Technical Indicators
First Major Support Level: $0.4204
Pivot Level: $0.4381
First Major resistance Level: $0.4539
23.6% FIB Retracement Level: $0.5320
38.2% FIB Retracement Level: $0.4632
62% FIB Retracement Level: $0.3521
Please let us know what you think in the comments below.
Thanks, Bob
This article was originally posted on FX Empire
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Bitcoin back above $51,000 and Ethereum/AWS tie-up could mean big innovation - CityAM
Crypto at a glance
The market continued to look choppy yesterday, though it seems the momentum is still very much on Bitcoin’s side and we’re back percolating at around $51,000 again.
The largest cryptocurrency is still some way off last month’s all-time high price above $58,000, but the conditions are arguably more favourable for a more sustained price move this time around.
Last week’s correction took a lot of the heat out of the market and the US stimulus bill is likely to be approved in the next two weeks, although falling volumes may be a cause for concern.
The recovery continues all down the line. The total market cap of cryptocurrency is now back up at over $1.5 trillion and everything is showing green. There was particularly good news for Ethereum yesterday, with Amazon Web Services (AWS)’s announcement that their “managed blockchain” service now supports Ethereum out of the box.
The move comes more than two years after the integration was first hinted at in 2018. The AWS announcement blog notes that the news means “AWS customers can easily provision Ethereum nodes in minutes and connect to the public Ethereum main network and test networks such as Rinkeby and Ropsten”. This should, hopefully, mean the developer base using this technology grows even further and enables even more innovation moving forward.
With smart contract rivals such as BNB and ADA making huge headway recently, will the move help Ethereum maintain its position?
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In the Markets
Name Price Price Change (24h) Price Change (7 days) Bitcoin (BTC) $50,839.44 +4.43% +1.12% Ethereum (ETH) $1,595.34 +3.35% -2.72% XRP (Ripple) $0.4502 +3.72% -6.84% Monero (XMR) $226.79 +0.92% +5.46% Polkadot (DOT) $38.22 +7.68% +9.89% Algorand (ALGO) $1.16 +9.41% +6.33% Cardano (ADA) $1.26 +3.56% +27.60% Chainlink (LINK) $30.97 +7.12% +12.12% Aave (AAVE) $409.86 +7.09% +4.55% UniSwap (UNI) $27.43 +6.89% +5.53% Celsius (CEL) $4.79 +2.25% -8.11% Binance Coin (BNB) $252.80 +2.54% +2.95% Crypto market cap $1,551,909,712,072 MVIS CryptoCompare Digital Assets 100 Large-Cap Index +6.41 MVIS CryptoCompare Digital Assets 100 Small-Cap Index +6.67 MVIS CryptoCompare Ethereum VWAP Close Index +0.57 Prices and data as of [08:30, 3/03/2021] Source: CryptoCompare.com, MVIS
The Bitcoin Economy
*Definitions and insights can be found at https://bytetree.com/insights/
What Bitcoin did yesterday
We closed yesterday, March 2, 2021, at a price of $48,378.99 – down from $49,631.24 the day before.
The daily high yesterday was $50,127.51 and the daily low was $47,228.85.
This time last year, the price of Bitcoin closed the day at $8,869.67. In 2019, it was $3,864.42.
As of today, buying Bitcoin has been profitable for…
99.9% of all days since 2013-04-28.
Bitcoin market capitalisation
Bitcoin’s market capitalisation is $942,335,371,742, up from $910,126,141,016 yesterday. That means it is still the eighth largest asset in the world, above Tencent, but still behind Alphabet. The total market cap of gold is $10.967 trillion at time of writing. Getting closer!
Bitcoin volume
The volume traded over the last 24 hours was $48,376,115,752, down from $54,465,753,669 yesterday. High volumes can indicate that a significant price movement has stronger support and is more likely to be sustained.
Volatility
The price volatility of Bitcoin over the last 30 days is 79.89%.
Fear and Greed Index
Market sentiment is right back up to 78 again today.
Bitcoin’s market dominance
Bitcoin’s market dominance is 61.78. Its lowest ever recorded dominance was 37.09 on January 8, 2018.
Relative Strength Index (RSI)
The daily RSI is 57.69. Values of 70 or above indicate that an asset is becoming overbought and may be primed for a trend reversal or experience a correction in price – an RSI reading of 30 or below indicates an oversold or undervalued condition.
Convince your Nan: Soundbite of the day
“The current currency holdings in fiat is about $100 trillion and bitcoin‘s market cap is just reaching $1 trillion now, so there’s no reason it can’t go up 100-fold. It’s not like it’s going to completely replace the dollar, although I think people are going to laugh when you’re trying to buy things for dollars in the future.”
Tim Draper, founder of Draper Fisher Jurvetson
What they said yesterday…
American politics just got interesting…
Another billionaire sounding increasingly bullish…
Let me help Peter. Gold is hyped as much as Crypto. Do we really need gold jewelry? Gold can make you a ring. BTC/Eth are technologies that can make you a banker, allow friction free exchange of value and are extensible into an unlimited range of biz and personal applications https://t.co/pJPdEAl5gq — Mark Cuban (@mcuban) March 2, 2021
What looks easier to carry?
$1 Billion of gold $1 Billion of bitcoin pic.twitter.com/8mJwgGD07w — Documenting Bitcoin 📄 (@DocumentingBTC) March 2, 2021
Nice…
Today on clubhouse I heard an 18 year old kid from Lebanon who’s been stacking Bitcoin since he was 16 to avoid crippling currency devaluation. This is the generation that will topple authoritarian regimes while dollar privileged armchair economists argue that Bitcoin has no use — Yan Pritzker 🦢 (@skwp) March 3, 2021
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Crypto AM: Recommended Events
What’s Next for Crypto Webinar
Baker Botts & Team Blockchain
March 3 2021 17:00 GMT
https://event.on24.com/wcc/r/3025235/72862B4A2DA17F4097395FBA84B845BF
CC Forum
Global Investment in Sustainable Development
March 31 to April 1 2021 – Dubai
Global Technology Governance Summit
April 6 and 7 2021 – Tokyo
https://www.weforum.org/events/global-technology-governance-summit-2021
Cautionary Notes
It’s definitely tempting to get swept up in the excitement, but please heed these words of caution: Do your own research, only invest what you can afford, and make good decisions. The indicators contained in this article will hopefully help in this. Remember though, the content of this article is for information purposes only and is not investment advice or any form of recommendation or invitation. City AM, Crypto AM and Luno always advise you to obtain your own independent financial advice before investing or trading in cryptocurrency.
All information is correct as of 08:30am GMT.