Top 3 Trending Coins: ETH Breaches $1.9K, SOL Eyes Bullish Pennant Breakout, NEAR Probes $6.0

Key Points 

• Ethereum briefly jumped above $1.9K on Thursday, having surged in the past 24 hours on soft US inflation/merge optimism.  
• Solana is the best top 20 crypto performer, with bulls eyeing a bullish pennant breakout.  
• NEAR Protocol has also been in focus after the Coinbase listing announcement.  

Ethereum (ETH) Surges Amid Merge Optimism 

Ethereum continues to be a leader in the broad cryptocurrency market rally, with analysts citing optimism about the Ethereum blockchain’s upcoming “Merge” to Proof-of-Stake this September being behind its outperformance versus other major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.  

Indeed, in the early hours of Thursday morning, Ethereum successfully implemented their third and final trail run of the so-called “Merge” on the Goerli public testnet. The successful merge opens the door to a merge of the currently PoW Ethereum Mainnet with the PoS Beacon Chain on 19 September.  

ETH was last changing hands just under $1,900, having briefly surpassed the level earlier in the day to hit its highest point since 1 June near $1,920. ETH/USD is trading over 11% higher in the past 24 hours according to CoinMarketCap, making it one of the best-performing major cryptocurrencies.  

If ETH can clear resistance at $1,920, the door is open for a run higher towards the $2,000 level. There is then a hodge podge of resistance between here and $2,200, which marks the January 2022 lows. ETH dips back towards its 21-Day Moving Average are likely to continue to present a good buying opportunity.    

With macro conditions seemingly having taken a turn for the better this week with US inflation easing more than expected and amid continued optimism about the upcoming Merge, an ETH push above $2,000 seems highly likely. 

Solana (SOL) Rebounds, Eyes Bullish Pennant Breakout 

SOL, the native token of Solana, an Ethereum competitor and already functioning PoS blockchain, is the best performing cryptocurrency in the top 20 by market capitalization of the last 24 hours, according to CoinMarketCap. Over this time period, the cryptocurrency was last up around 12%, having found strong support on Wednesday when it tested its 50DMA near $39 and was last changing hands in the $44s.  

SOL/USD has formed a pennant structure in recent weeks and if the broad cryptocurrency market rally continues, an upside break is looking increasingly likely. If SOL can clear resistance around $48, the door would be open for a swift rally back to mid-May highs close to $60 per token.  

NEAR Protocol (NEAR) Boosted by Coinbase Listing Announcement 

NEAR, the native token that powers the NEAR Protocol, has rallied alongside the broader cryptocurrency market in the past 24 hours, though also received an added boost from the news that Coinbase Global plans to list the token soon. NEAR/USD jumped 10% on Wednesday to briefly surpass $6 per token for the first time since late May but has since succumbed to profit-taking and fallen back to the $5.80 area.  

Bulls will nonetheless still be eyeing a test of the next major area of resistance around $6.50, as NEAR maintains bullish momentum after breaking above the key $4.70 resistance area last week. A break above $6.50 would then open the door to a test of support turned resistance in the $7.50 area.