Ethereumโs Ether (ETH) token is approaching a critical price zone against Bitcoin (BTC), which historically marked the beginning of a massive rebound.
ETH price fractal from 2019 hints at bottom
The ETH/BTC pair, currently trading near 0.019 BTC, is edging closer to 0.016 BTC โ the exact level it reached in September 2019 before rallying nearly 450% over the following year.
The current ETH/BTC setup resembles 2019, with both periods marked by oversold relative strength index (RSI), long stretches below key moving averages, and multiyear declines.
In 2019, ETH/BTC fell over 90% in the prior two years, driven by the ICO collapse.
As of 2025, the pair is down over 80% from its 2021 peak, weighed by skepticism over Ethereumโs switch to proof-of-stake (PoS), rising competition, and Bitcoinโs growing dominance as an institutional asset.
In response to the growing concerns, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has proposed new architecture and protocol-wide standards to make Ethereum simpler, faster, and as maintainable as Bitcoin within five years.
Related: Ethereum to simplify crosschain transactions with new token standards
One analyst called Buterinโs proposal โthe most bullish thing for ETH.โ
The bullish hopes come as ETH/BTC attempts to break free from its multi-year โbearish parabola.โ This resistance curve has been instrumental in limiting the pairโs upside attempts since December 2021 but showed signs of exhaustion as of May 3.
โWe might see an end of this bearish parabola,โ wrote chartist Jimie.
He noted that if the curved resistance holds, ETH/BTC could drop toward 0.016 BTC โ the same level where it bottomed in September 2019 before rallying by roughly 450%.
Flush ETH and buy Bitcoin, saysย Adam Back
Skeptics like Bitcoinโsย proof-of-work pioneer,ย Adam Back,ย argueย that Buterin is overlooking deeper design flaws while proposing to simplify Ethereum in the coming years.
Back criticizes Ethereumโs account-based system, saying it adds unnecessary complexity compared to Bitcoinโs simpler UTXO (unspent transaction output) model. He argues this growing complexity increases technical risks and makes Ethereum harder to scale and secure.
He also warns that Ethereumโs shift to PoS has concentrated power among insiders by redirecting miner rewards to large tokenholders.
โAt this point, just flush ETH before it hits zero and buy Bitcoin,โ he wrote, suggesting no upgrade can fix what he views as Ethereumโs flawed foundation.
This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.
