Phantom (FTM) price rises 40% in a month – what’s behind the push?
The price of Phantom (FTM) rose 25% in seven days, to $0.51 on September 16. This is part of a retracement that began on August 6 and has seen prices rise more than 40% in the past 30 days.
According to data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView, FTM fell from $0.26 on August 5th, rose as much as 103% to $0.53 on September 16th.
In comparison, Bitcoin (BTC) has decreased by 4% in the last 30 days, while Ether (ETH) has decreased by 12.6% in the same period. Total crypto market capitalization fell by 2.5% last month, to $2.02 trillion.
Thus, FTM's performance over the past 30 days has resulted in the largest gain among 100 cryptocurrencies by market value in one month.
Mr. Crypto, an unnamed crypto trader and investor who commented on FTM's recent price increase, said Phantom's performance was “a lot of behind-the-scenes growth.”
Mr. Crypto added,
“I believe eventually the big foot will come up. It may take some time, but I think it will happen eventually.”
The most notable development on Phantom is the Sonic upgrade, which is expected to significantly increase network performance by introducing a new Phantom Virtual Machine (FVM), optimized Lachesis consensus mechanism, and Carmen database storage.
Sonic's launch is slated for November or December 2024.
After this upgrade, the Fantom blockchain can process more than 2,000 transactions per second (TPS) in around one second. This will be a big improvement from the current 30 TPS.
The closed testnet showed a maximum theoretical throughput of 2,000 transactions per second (TPS) with synchronized traffic, with a final time of 729 milliseconds, a milestone in blockchain development.
Sonic is expected to reduce storage requirements by up to 90%, making node operation more cost-effective and accessible.
Fully compatible with existing Ethereum tools and contracts, Sonic is ready to support a wide variety of high-frequency DApps without compromising security or decentralization.
The proposed reforms, however, are yet to revive investor interest in Phantom's decentralized financial ecosystem.
According to Defillama data, the total value locked (TVL) in Fantom's DeFi applications fell to $86.5 million, a shadow of the March 2022 peak of $7.93 billion.
However, there was little interest in Phantom DApps as TVL increased by 22% since August 8.
This is confirmed by data from Glassnode, which increased Daily Active Addresses (DAA) on the Phantom network by 67% from 203 to 346 per month.
Related: Crypto and Commodities Set for Big Rally, Market Analyst Says
Fantom price is sitting on strong support
FTM's strong performance over the past 30 days can also be explained by its relatively strong support.
On-chain data from IntoTheBlock shows that FTM is sitting at relatively strong support compared to resistance on the recovery path. The in/out of the money around the price (IOMAP) below shows that 1,560 addresses have previously bought approximately 242.56 million FTM tokens in the demand area at $0.47 and $0.48.
Increased buying by these investors will keep FTM's recovery momentum going in the short term.
From a technical perspective, FTM is trading below the neckline of what appears to be an inverse head and shoulders (IHS) pattern.
The IHS pattern is a reversal technical setup that forms after an extended downtrend. It consists of the head, left shoulder and right shoulder turned up and below the neckline.
A break and close above the neckline completes the setup, indicating that the downtrend has reversed.
The pattern usually resolves after the price crosses above the neckline, which indicates that the downtrend has completely reversed. The FTM/USD chart below shows a similar technical bullish setup.
A daily candle closing above the neckline at $0.53 would see FTM inverting this level to support. If the price holds above the neckline, it indicates the ability of the bulls to sustain the higher levels.
That adds to the odds of a break into the pattern's technical target at $0.81, representing a 56% upside from the current price.
The relative strength index was looking up, and price strength at 62 confirmed the dominance of buyers in the market.
This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and business activity involves risk, and readers should do their own research when making a decision.