While Bitcoin (BTC) continues to push into new all-fourth dimension highs, Ether (ETH) has as well tagged new twelvemonth-to-engagement highs following news the Chicago Mercantile Exchange plans to launch ETH futures contracts in 2021.

BTC spiked into new highs on Dec. 16, gaining x% in one twenty-four hours from $19,140 to $21,340. Dec. 17 has seen BTC extend the rally by a further 4% so far, with the market currently searching for support well-nigh $21,800 after posting a local top of $22,160.

While many traders announced to be glued to the Bitcoin charts, Ether likewise pushed into new yearly highs later gaining viii.5% yesterday. Today, the cost increased to a local meridian of $656 on BitMEX, with the markets currently hovering half a percent above yesterday's closing toll of $640.

The rally followed news that CME intends to launch ETH futures in 2021 pending regulatory approval. It cited strong client demand for the product.

CME launched its Bitcoin futures contracts in December 2017, which signaled the superlative of that year's historic rally.

Some predict even greater moves upward for ETH to come up. Twitter user "Altcoin Sherpa" noted that ETH has begun multi-month rallies in December, a month that has seen gains of at least 100% for each of the by 3 years. As such, the analyst predicts Ether volition soon surpass $1,000 for the get-go time since 2017.

Ethereum perma-bull "Wolfofethereum.eth" speculated that "the $ETH evidence is just getting started," highlighting that Ether has outperformed BTC by 185% over the past 12 months.

Set Protocol'southward Anthony Sassano posted an image comparing the metrics for Ethereum when information technology concluding broke $500 and the situation today — noting a 900% increase in agile developers, an 80% increment in 24-hr transaction count, a 60% increment in agile addresses, and a 150% increase in network hash rate.

ETH/BTC shorts on Bitfinex are currently sitting at record lows, suggesting the markets expect Ether to make gains over BTC for the foreseeable time to come. ETH/BTC longs are at their highest level since February 2018.

Weekly ETH/BTC shorts on Bitfinex: TradingView