The cryptocurrency market experienced one of its best days on Wednesday thanks to a strong bullish rally, and ETH was one of the digital coins that capitalized on the opportunity. Ethereum’s price saw a considerable uptick that sent it to a new historic high at $4,372, and the first time, its market cap reached $500 billion.

ETH’s impressive rally seems to have been curtailed by a strong pullback that has since then undone its gains on Wednesday. The cryptocurrency is currently trading at $3,618, and the current price performance shows that table may have turned in favor of the bears. This is further supported by the fact that the price has already crossed below the 7-day moving average. The volume indicator also shows a selling spike, which explains the overall bearish performance. The Ethereum price currently ranges between a 24-hour high of $4034.77 and a 24-hour low of $3500 which also seems to be the new support level.

Unfortunately, the Ethereum network also saw a massive spike in its transaction fees which went up by 470% by May 11. The transaction fee was as low as $12 earlier this week, a refreshing change from the previous transaction fee peak of $40 in February, but the recent spike saw it surge up to $70.

Will ETH recover and potentially hit new highs?

This is probably the question that many ETH analysts and enthusiasts are asking. However, the answer to that might be found in the snapshot of the entire crypto market. ETH is not the only cryptocurrency currently experiencing a robust bearish performance in the last few hours. Bitcoin itself has already tanked by 12.33%, making it the first time its price has dropped below $50,000 in May.

Dogecoin, a favorite for many speculators in the last two weeks, is down 19% in the last 24 hours. Most of the top cryptocurrencies are currently in the red, which might indicate that the market is correcting after the solid bullish performance that we witnessed in May.

ETH’s ability to recover is currently at the mercy of the overall crypto market sentiment. If a bearish sentiment prevails, it might continue to hurt ETH’s performance. However, if the market correction is only temporary, Ethereum might have another crack at $4,500 and possibly even higher.  Some analysts are still convinced that ETH still has a lot of upside potential compared to the price of Bitcoin.

Will the current market performance reflect the 2018 crash?

It is abundantly clear that the crypto market is very unpredictable, which means that anything can happen. However, the current market situation is a lot different compared to 2017 and 2018. There has been a lot of institutional support this time round, and the number of people investing in the crypto market has increased significantly in the last three years.

There have also been concerns in the fiat market, regarding the devaluing of the U.S dollar. The situation might provide a buffer to the crypto market. The current bearish performance is largely linked to Elon Musk’s announcement on Wednesday, stating that Tesla will no longer accept Bitcoin as payment for car purchases. Musk has had a huge influence on the crypto market this year especially through Tesla’s purchase of Bitcoin.

Although he walked back on accepting the digital coin as payment, the company still holds a substantial amount of Bitcoin, which is good news for the market. Nevertheless, the unpredictability means the current battle between the bulls and bears is still a toss-up.