Is Now the Time to Buy Ethereum, Following Its 10% Rise?

A 10% move higher in Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) over the past 24 hours (as of 2:45 p.m. ET) has some investors rethinking their recent portfolio allocation moves.

Indeed, we've seen a flurry of capital into the cryptocurrency sector begin to abate in recent weeks, as geopolitical tensions have risen to levels not seen since 9/11 (according to some analysts) and uncertainty has taken over nearly all headlines in financial markets. In the cryptocurrency sector, one which is much more sensitive to near-term sentiment and uncertainty-related risks, that's a big deal.

That said, with investors looking through ongoing conflicts in Iran and now Ecuador (as of this morning), it does appear that risk-on momentum is picking up. Here's what to make of Ethereum's impressive 10% daily move, which has propelled the world's second-largest token back above the key $2,000 level today.

Can Ethereum hold this key level?

Source: Getty Images.

I think most investors who have remained exposed to Ethereum for some period of time may not necessarily be as excited as one might think, after today's move. That's because Ethereum (and many other digital assets for that matter) have bounced around a great deal in recent months, breaking below key psychological thresholds on several occasions.

But with Ethereum's strong move today, chatter in the Ethereum community looks much more bullish than it has in recent weeks. The idea among many investors is that this level can not only be held, but that Ethereum could potentially push back toward $3,000 per token (and beyond) if we can get through this near-term swarm of negative headlines.

We'll see on that front. In the meantime, Ethereum holders appear to be looking at key fundamental developments within the Ethereum ecosystem positively once again. Most of the recent discussion I've seen on Ethereum centers on this network's upcoming, so-called "Glamsterdam" hard fork. This hard fork aims to improve scalability, user experience, and security, as well as quantum resistance. That's a big deal, given how much attention is being paid to all these key catalysts ahead.

Overall, I think Ethereum's status as the go-to network for on-chain application development has driven some of the most robust network effects in the crypto sector. Indeed, there's a reason why this token is in the number two spot in terms of market capitalization. I'm not expecting that to change anytime soon, and Ethereum still looks cheap to me, even after today's impressive surge.

Chris MacDonald has positions in Ethereum. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Ethereum. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.