Fantom (FTM) has experienced a significant increase in price, rising by 25% in just seven days to reach $0.51 on September 16. This surge is part of a larger rebound that began on August 6, resulting in a price increase of over 40% in the past 30 days.
Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that FTM started at a low of $0.26 on August 5 and peaked at an intraday high of $0.53 on September 16, marking a growth of up to 103%.
In comparison, Bitcoin (BTC) has seen a 4% decrease in price over the past month, while Ether (ETH) has dropped by 12.6% during the same period. The total crypto market capitalization has also declined by 2.5% to $2.02 trillion.
As a result, FTM has emerged as one of the top gainers among the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market cap over the past month.
Mister Crypto, a pseudonymous crypto trader and investor, attributed Fantom’s recent price surge to significant development happening behind the scenes. One notable development is the upcoming Sonic upgrade, which is expected to greatly enhance the network’s performance through the introduction of a new Fantom Virtual Machine (FVM), optimized Lachesis consensus mechanism, and Carmen database storage. The launch of Sonic is scheduled for November or December 2024.
After the upgrade, the Fantom blockchain will be capable of processing over 2,000 transactions per second (TPS) with a finality time of approximately one second, a significant improvement from the current 30 TPS. The closed testnet with simulated traffic has already demonstrated a maximum theoretical throughput of 2,000 TPS with a time to finality of 729 milliseconds, marking a major milestone in the blockchain’s development.
Sonic is also expected to reduce storage requirements by up to 90%, making node operation more cost-efficient and accessible. It is fully compatible with existing Ethereum tools and contracts, allowing it to support a wide range of high-frequency decentralized applications (DApps) without compromising security or decentralization.
Despite these developments, investor interest in Fantom’s decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem has not yet been revived. Data from DefiLlama shows that the total value locked (TVL) in Fantom’s DeFi applications has dropped to $86.5 million, a significant decrease from its peak of $7.93 billion in March 2022. However, there has been a slight increase in interest as the TVL has risen by 22% since August 8.
Additionally, Glassnode data reveals that the number of daily active addresses (DAA) on the Fantom network has increased by 67% from 203 to 346 month-to-date.
FTM’s strong performance over the past month can also be attributed to its solid underlying support. On-chain data from IntoTheBlock indicates that FTM has strong support compared to the resistance it faces. The in/out of the money around price (IOMAP) chart shows that 1,560 addresses have previously bought approximately 242.56 million FTM tokens in the demand area between $0.47 and $0.48. Increased buying from these investors is likely to sustain FTM’s recovery momentum in the short term.
From a technical perspective, FTM is currently trading below the neckline of an inverse head-and-shoulders (IHS) pattern. This pattern is a reversal setup that forms after a prolonged downtrend. A breakout and close above the neckline would complete the setup, indicating a reversal of the downtrend. The FTM/USD chart displays a similar bullish setup.
If FTM manages to close above the neckline at $0.53, it could become a support level and signal the bulls’ ability to sustain higher levels. This would increase the likelihood of a break towards the pattern’s technical target at $0.81, representing a 56% increase from the current price.
The relative strength index (RSI) is trending upward, with a strength of 62, indicating the dominance of buyers in the market.
It’s important to note that this article does not provide investment advice or recommendations. Readers should conduct their own research before making any investment or trading decisions.